Healing Hands
by kittyonnails
Summary: Rin leaves Sesshomaru, but she loves him. Will she have the guts to carry out her plan? Lots of Sesshomaru and Rin, Lots of Hits and Near Kisses. (The seventh part is now up! And the saga is Finished!)
1. Healing Hands Part 1

Healing Hands  
  
Inu-Yasha Fanfiction  
  
By: Kittyonnails  
  
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Fourteen-year-old Rin pondered her plight as she prepared the bath for her lord She was desperately in love with her master, the Great Lord of the Western lands. His name was Sesshômaru. Her love was a forbidden kind, and very one sided. Sesshômaru had saved Rin when she was nothing more than a small orphan girl. She had been in his service ever since. She sighed thinking about him. Sesshômaru was one of the most powerful and noble demons she had ever encountered, and in her years of service to him she had seen many demons. She was just a human girl though. There was no chance that her lord could reciprocate her feelings. He could not even stand his own half-brother because he was partially human. Still, she owed him a debt for saving her life. Rin felt that even her lifetime of service could not be enough to repay him for saving her.   
  
The door slid open and in walked Sesshomaru. He stood silently, inhaling the steam rising from the bath. Rin rose to help him out of his robes. She always enjoyed helping him in the bath. It was probably as close to an intimate moment she ever expected to experience. She knelt on the wooden floor and Sesshomaru seated himself in front of her with his back facing her. She gathered his long silver-white hair into a twirl and pinned it up in one smooth, practiced move. Rin felt her master relax under her gentle touches and smiled. She began to scrub at his back, making small round motions across his shoulder blades and down his spine. Her eyes wandered about his pale skin, resting on his left arm. At least what would have been his left arm if his half-brother hadn't maimed him.   
  
Rin felt a surge of anger whenever she saw the remains of her masters arm. Usually he kept it well concealed in the sleeves of his kimono. No one would have ever guessed, especially since he could use his demon powers to bind a new arm onto his body for short periods of time. The trick was impermanent though, and the limbs would end up rotting away. He never even bothered when he was here, at his own mansion.   
  
She poured buckets of water over her master's back to rinse away the lather, and let down his hair. She wetted it and began to massage soap into his mane. "if only a healer would come to mend his arm." she thought to herself, staring sadly at his limb. No healer would ever consider helping her lord though. Only humans trained by certain Buddhist sects could perform such drastic healings, and to do so after the limb has been gone so long would be even more taxing on the healer. Sesshomaru lost his limb in a battle even before he had found and saved Rin. It didn't matter anyway. No healer would mend Sesshomaru's arm because he was a demon. Supposedly humans and demons were sworn enemies, never to mix, never to suffer the other to live even. She smiled at her lord as she began rinsing his soapy head. The true practice was something a bit different from the teaching. Here she was, a human girl serving her master these seven years. Her lord's half-brother was born of a union between a human princess and his father. That half-demon was also mated to a human priestess. Yes, the reality was far different from the theory.  
  
"perhaps then, a healer would come to heal my lord." Rin combed Sesshomaru's hair out in sections as she excitedly thought of how much he would like to have his own arm back. "that would certainly be a wonderful way to thank my master for all he's done for me." As she thought about it more, her heart sank. The procedure would surely be very expensive, both in wealth from the patron and in energy from the healer. Rin had all she needed here as Sesshomaru's servant, but she had no way to pay a healer's fee. "I wish I could heal him." she thought to herself.  
  
"Rin" Her lord's voice called her out of her thoughts. "Make sure the bath is ready."  
  
"Yes my lord." She turned to the bath, sticking her hand into the water to test it. She couldn't leave her hand in long though, the water was scalding hot. Just the way her master liked it, very near boiling. It took a lot to calm his powerful muscles after a hard day.  
  
"It is ready." She bowed low as he rose from the little stool he had been sitting on and climbed into the bath.  
  
"You may leave me Rin." he said as he leaned back into the steaming water.  
  
  
  
Rin could barely keep herself from breaking into a run as she hurried down the hall to find her lord's assistant the toad-demon, Jakken. She knew how she could repay Sesshomaru. She needed Jakken's help though. She burst into the toad's office without knocking.  
  
"Jakken! I have to most wonderful idea!" She tried not to shout. The toad looked up at her. She was grinning from one ear to the other. He hated Rin. She was always like this, even as a child. Eternally happy and always having ideas that ended up making him look bad to their master, Lord Sesshomaru.  
  
"I only want to hear it if it involves you going far, far away." He sneered, looking back down at his little desk.  
  
"It does! That's why I need you help Jakken." he looked up, disbelieving his pointy little ears. Rin would never leave. He knew how the silly little thing was in love with Lord Sesshomaru.  
  
"what are you planning girl?"  
  
"I want to go to the nunnery at the temple of innocence and learn the healing arts. That way I can return to heal our lord Sesshomaru's arm for him. It has to be a secret though. I want to surprise him." Her eyes were glowing and he knew she was serious.   
  
"Rin, it takes years to master the healing arts. That wont' be easy, especially for a stupid spoiled girl like you." He meant to detur her from the idea. As annoying as she was, Sesshomaru had taken a liking to the little thing a while back, and would not be pleased if she were to come up missing, no matter the reason.  
  
"I know he won't want me to leave." Rin interrupted his thoughts as if she had heard them. "But I just have to repay him. I can learn, I know it. What I need your help with is escape. You know he wont' let me leave here freely." Jakken nodded. Sesshomaru would certainly hunt her down and bring her back to the mansion if she were to leave.   
  
On the other hand, if Rin were to leave her sweetness would stop causing Sesshomaru to do strange things. He thought to himself how Sesshomaru had always insisted on bathing alone, until Rin. Now the girl assisted him at every bath. Many other such small instances had begun to pop up as well. He began to see that Rin's absence was best for their Lord's dignity. Afterall, allowing a mere human to take the place of a privileged servant was just about too much. Who knew if that's where it would end?  
  
"I can help you, Rin." he stood and lead her down the hall. When they arrived in the pantry, Rin was confused. Jakken pulled a few things from the shelves.  
  
"Crush these herbs, mince in this garlic, and add that to this rosewater and this olive oil." He handed her the groceries and pulled out a dishwashing basin.   
  
"Pour it over yourself and make sure to get ever bit of your skin and every strand of hair. If you coat yourself well enough with this dressing, you will be hidden from lord Sesshomaru's nose. He will not know where you are or where you have traveled. For added protection, soak your garments in it and dry them before you leave. The potion should last a few weeks, after that you will be on your own." he paused, plotting her escape in his little mind.   
  
"You chose the temple of innocence because it is hidden from our lord, did you not?"  
  
Rin nodded. "yes, ever since an urn keeper attacked the temple, the monks have kept it under a shield that prevents all demons from entering."  
  
"When will you leave?" He looked out at the moonlight garden she had tended for the past few seasons, wondering how strange the mansion would be without her. The journey to the temple of innocence was a treacherous one, and he didn't really expect her to make it.  
  
"Tommorrow, at noon. I will sneak away while Lord Sesshomaru is out for the day."  
  
"Better get started tonight then." Jakken turned and left her alone to prepare the potion.  
  
****  
  
"Master-Mushin, look!" Rin ran up to the fat old monk cradling something in her hands. Mushin sat up and strained to see the tiny thing. She presented him with a mouse. He looked from the mouse to the young nun.  
  
"Now Rin, that mouse doesn't have any use for an extra arm. How many times do I have to tell you not to waste your gifts bestowing limbs on creatures." he wasn't exactly angry, but this was hardly the first time his prize student had spent the day adding appendages to whatever happened to catch her fancy. He had thought that she was confused by the religious images of the Buddha with several arms. He had explained to her that the extra limbs were merely figurative. She had insisted that she understood that. She seemed inexplicably drawn to create limbs. He smiled at her.  
  
"Take it away. You have other chores to do. If you spend the day like that, you won't have any energy left tomorrow to help me with the pilgrims who have need of your gifts."  
  
"Yes Master-Mushin." she sighed.   
  
Rin was the most talented healer he had ever trained. He often thought she would have been able to cure his foster-son's cursed wind-tunnel if it still plagued him. She was also the most beautiful nun he had ever trained. When she came to him at the tender age of fourteen, she was a strange girl who could barely remember the human language. She told him a horrible story of being captured at the age of seven by a demon clan and kept as a slave. He thought such an ordeal would have turned her heart too cold to practice the healing arts, but she proved to be a warm, sunny girl with a gift for healing. He was certain that her gift is what had brought her to him. He watched her retreating form, remembering the small girl with her head freshly shaven from induction into the nunnery.  
  
Rin trotted back to the frit tree grove with a pout. Master-Mushin never appreciated her efforts to practice limb restoration. She had never told him why she wanted that skill most of all. She had never told anyone. Rin was certain that she would be cast out of the nunnery if anyone were to learn that she studied so hard, and honed her skills out of love for her lord and master the great demon Sesshomaru. She sighed as she thought of him. Though her newfound freedom had shown her how appallingly like a possession she had been to him, she still loved him. She had come to peace with that a long time ago.   
  
She concentrated over the mouse, removing the limb was eaiser than adding it, and the tiny leg disappeared. As she freed the mouse she thought of her lord. Five long years she had studied here at the temple of innocence. She ran her hand across the long black braid that proved it. Her hair had completely grown back. That wasn't all that had grown. Rin had grown too. She was no longer the timid girl who ran from her master in secret. She knew she had left that way to avoid his wrath.   
  
"Hey Rin!" a young monk about her age called to her, waving as he approached. It was her best friend, Taromaru. She smiled at him and waved back.  
  
"So, you wanna fuck around tonight Rin?" He asked, smiling mischievously.  
  
"Come on Taromaru." she scolded, "at least pretend to be a holy man."  
  
"But Master-Mushin…"  
  
"Taught you every sin you know. That doesn't mean you have to keep sinning." she sighed. The temple of innocence was such a joke. Taromaru was the only monk there besides Master-Mushin, and Rin was the only nun. No one came to the temple to worship, only for healing. The temple was secluded and difficult to travel to. No one wanted to be that far from there families, except Taromaru and Rin.   
  
Rin, of course, had no family and chose the temple because it would hide her from demons. Taromaru had run away from his family when he was twelve. Apparently his father had been the headman of a village in the western territories. He never told Rin the details, all she knew was that his father had done something terrible and Taromaru hadn't been able to deal with the shame. Over the years, they had both seen Master-Mushin turn away others who wished to serve at the temple. Neither was sure why he had let them stay.  
  
"Really though, Rin, I wanted to ask if you would help me out. I caught some fish and I wanted your skilled fingers to help me de-bone them." He nodded his head in the direction of the broken down structure in which they lived.  
  
"Yea, I guess it's about time to start dinner, isn't it?" Rin asked as she followed after him.  
  
In the kitchen, they found Mushin, carefully painting a spirit ward with a special concoction neither recognized. Rin leaned over his shoulder and tried to read the fancy characters, though she was not a very accomplished reader .  
  
"What'cha doin'?" Taromaru asked, only half interested.  
  
"Taking down the demon shield."  
  
Rin leapt up, panicked.  
  
"No! Master-Mushin It's not safe if the demons can find us!"  
  
"find us?" Mushin smiled, "oh-ho, not to worry Rin, you are nun now, and you have learned much. You can defeat any demon who would try to harm you. Besides, it's been so long, I don't think that those brutes who stole you away will bother to come for you."  
  
Tears welled up in Rin's eyes. She couldn't understand why she was so upset. This was what she wanted after all, to be able to use her gifts to help her lord. She loved him so, he had saved her life after all. Why was she so terrified suddenly?  
  
"No, please Master-Mushin, please!"  
  
The old monk frowned.   
  
"Rin, I have to take down the barrier, some old friends are coming to visit. Friendly demon's are among them. If it will help, I can give you two days to prepare yourself for it, but we all must leave the womb eventually child."  
  
Rin sobbed loudly and ran from the temple. She ran and ran untill she found stairs. She climbed them as quickly as she could through the tears. When she reached the top, she was high in the mountain top. The air was thin and the view as amazing. She had always gone up here to be alone, to dream of her love. Mostly she went here to cry. She was surprised at herself. Usually she could feel a cry approaching. She would climb up here to this small shrine and cry her eyes out.   
  
She turned to the stairs, Taromaru was coming. He never followed her up here. She stopped crying, the curiosity of his approach distracted her. He was still a long way down the mountain, it would take him a few minutes to reach her. She hugged her knees to her chest and rubbed her moistened eyes. Her shaky breaths began to smooth. Taromaru reached the landing at last. Rin didn't look at him. Her back faced him and she gazed at the valley below, her eyes were seeing something else.   
  
"Rin." he whispered her name, as if in awe. "Rin, are you ok?" He approached her carefully and sat close, so close they were almost touching.   
  
"look Rin, I understand, it's scary. I don't know what exactly those demons did to you, but Master-Mushin gave me a pretty good idea. I kinda wish they would come back too, just so I could kick their nasty little asses for you." he turned away from her and looked out into the valley, trying to see what Rin was looking at.   
  
"Demon's are not nasty, Taromaru." she said it so quietly, he wasn't sure he heard her.   
  
"How can you say that? C'mon Rin, I know I joke about it, but for them to…" He cut out, unable to say aloud what he was sure had happened to her.  
  
"To rape me?" she asked, turning to face her friend. "That never happened." Rin sighed, turning her gaze back out to the valley.  
  
"In fact, I was never even kidnapped. The demon's I lived with saved my life. I served the Great Lord of the Western lands for seven years before coming here." She wandered why she was telling him. Surely he would tell Master-Mushin. She would lose her life for her indiscretions. She wanted to look at him, her dear friend Taromaru, but she couldn't work up the courage. She just kept staring at the scenery.  
  
"Why did you tell Master-Mushin that lie about being captured then? Why did you lie to me about it?"  
  
"I am in love with my master, I came here to study the healing arts to better serve him. Do you think Master-Mushin would teach me these secrets just so that I could heal demons?"  
  
"You love your master?" Taromaru frowned. "If you love him, then why did you throw that fit down there? If this is all just great for you, then why did you make us worry like that?"  
  
"Because-" Rin could feel the tears flowing again, "Because I am afraid of him. Sesshomaru did not want me to leave him. He will hunt me down when the barrier is dropped."   
  
"So he doesn't love you then? What makes you think, after five years, he's going to even notice, let alone hunt you down?" The thought was almost more than Rin could bear. She began to sob. Taromaru continued; "besides, Rin, how can you love someone you are afraid of? Don't you have to be able to trust in order to love?"  
  
"I- I- ohhh…" Rin fell into Taromaru's shoulder as her tears overtook her. The emotions raging in her head threatened to consume her as she searched for solace in her companion. The tears did not stop until the thin air got the better of her and she passed out, never realizing that this was the first time any man or demon had held her in his arms. 


	2. Healing Hands Part 2

Healing Hands  
  
Inu Yashsa Fanfiction   
  
By: Kittyonnails  
  
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The sky seemed to shiver as a deep purple crawled across it, beginning in the west and working it's way east. Rin turned towards it with mixed emotions. She knew it was a sign of Sesshomaru's coming. She looked back at the rundown temple and then back to the western horizon. She could already see her master coming. She could even feel him calling to her.  
  
Before her very eyes, he flew the hundred or so miles between them, never taking his eyes off of her. His expression was, as always, vacant. His eyes glowed a beautiful amber and his snow-white hair swirled about him in the wind. He reached Rin in moments, and she braced herself for whatever harsh words he had waiting for her.  
  
None came. As he stood, silently staring at her, his face betrayed neither anger or joy. He was so beautiful. Rin caught her breath as she traced the gentle slopes of his face with her eyes. The stripes on his cheeks were the color of the sky. He wore the same armor and kimono he had worn during her childhood, when they had traveled all over the western lands together. Unable to contain herself, Rin spoke first;  
  
"Sesshomaru." her eyes searched his for some answer to the question she couldn't bear to ask. Did he want her back? Would he again take her into his service? Seeing him now, she wondered why she had ever left her privileged position as his housemaid and come to this desolate place. The only peace and safety she had ever known was standing there in front of her.  
  
"Rin!" Taromaru's voice called to her, pulling her out of her dreaming. She was in her room, lying on her futon. Everythign was dark, save the light of one candle which revealed Taromaru, sitting at her bedside. She blinked at him, confused and wanting to return to her dreams.  
  
"Did you say Sesshomaru?" he asked, looking at her intensely. She nodded;  
  
"My Lord Sesshomaru. He is the Great Demon-Lord of the western lands."  
  
Tarumaru let out a long breath.  
  
"I didn't know. I've only met his brother, and only once."  
  
"The half-breed that maimed my lord?" Rin exclaimed.  
  
"And saved my life! Rin, how can you be so devoted to a demon as mercilessly evil as Sesshomaru anyway?"  
  
Rin looked away, remembering the serene face in her dream. To her he was neither merciless or evil. She smiled slightly.  
  
"I just love him Taromaru. He's not like you say he is. He has a good heart, especially for a demon of his rank. Humans just don't understand."  
  
"You were so upset! You passed out from fear of him a few hours ago, Rin! How can you love that? Rin, please…" his voice trailed off, but his eyes locked on hers. She was puzzled by the desperation and fear in them.  
  
"It's ok, Taromaru. No matter what happens, it will be just fine. I do not care what Sesshomaru decides to do with me, as long as he is the one doing it. I've waited so long, perfecting my skills for him. I can fight as well as any human, heal any wound, and I am still devoted to my lord. The only thing that has been holding me back is fear. I have been afraid to take the first step back into my master's service. I was afraid to displease him, afraid to burden him with my humanness again. Now I realize that he is the one who will make that decision. I will return to my lord. I belong with him, no matter what." A deep serenity washed over Rin. She had surrendered herself to fate and to Sesshomaru. It was no longer her burden. She knew in that instant that she would not wait for him to find her.  
  
"I will go to him and offer him my gifts. I will miss you, my friend."  
  
"Rin…" Taromaru looked away from her beauty. He couldn't bear to hear her talk in such a way about a demon who would most likely rip her to shreds for her disobedience. He stood up and left the room without saying another word.  
  
****  
  
Mushin frowned at the monk. His story was very troubling. Rin had left shortly after waking from her fit. She was going to return to the demon she had served as a girl. She intended on growing him a new arm with her healing powers.  
  
"If she attempts to heal that demon, she will be killed." he rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.  
  
"Master-Mushin, please we have to stop her. We have to save Rin!"   
  
"She has gone of her own free will to abuse the powers the Buddha has given her. I will have no part in such a rescue." He folded his arms resolutely.  
  
"But Master-Mushin, I-" he stopped, afraid to continue. Somehow he found the courage to tell his secret to his mentor. If anyone would understand, it would be Mushin. "I am in l-love with Rin."  
  
The old monk stared at him blankly for a minute, then a smile crept across his wrinkles, hidden somewhat by his mustache.  
  
"Good for you, if all monks fell in love with women as unattainable as Rin, we would never have defiled monks like tomorrow's visitor. My foster-son and some of his friends are coming to the temple. I'd hoped the positive contact with his demon companions would help bring Rin out of her past."  
  
"Master-Mushin!" Taromaru's desperate cry faded the smile on his mentor's face.  
  
"Aww, come now. You don't really think I'd leave poor little Rin to die at that demon's hands, do you?" He reached into the cuppboard and pulled out one of the hundreds of bottles and jugs of sake that were hidden all over the temple.  
  
"Here, have a drink, Taromaru. Tomorrow the help we need will arrive. We certainly can't save Rin all by ourselves. That Sesshomaru is a very powerful demon."  
  
Taromaru accepted the jug and took a sip. The wine warmed him and chased his fears away. Maybe Mushin was right. He took another drink. Forget tonight and start the crusade in the morning.  
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru's senses flared up as though he had just walked into a fire. He sat alone in his study, and from there he could sense her return. Memories washed over him. That peaceful little girl whom he had taken in. She had disappeared one day and never had he felt her presence again. He had been truly baffled by it all. His dutiful little maid had adored him. He had given her more and more privilege as she had aged. She was no ordinary human, of that he was sure. Little Rin had mastered the demonic tounge in a few sort weeks. She had survied several years of her life as an orphan before that. Even when he took her in, they had traveled all over the territories on this errand or that. Her life should have killed her, but instead she blossomed. When he had returned to his mansion, Sesshomaru had decided to teach her. He had watched her progress in her studies of the demon world as if she were his own pup, hoping to some day…  
  
He shook himself out of recollection. Those hopes were smashed the day she disappeared. He was not sure how or why she had left. He could coax information from no one. Rin had simply vanished. His inability to protect her from whatever had become of her had been a great shame to Sesshomaru. He was unsure if she had left him on her own or if some sinister thing had happened to her. The mystery was simply unsolved, until now.   
  
Sesshomaru rose from his seat and turned in her direction, inhaling her scent. Even this far away, he knew her. As his lungs filled with air, once again smelling of Rin, Sesshomaru was flooded with a mixture of curiosity and rage. He would go to her, and all his questions would be answered.  
  
Sesshomaru left the mansion without a word to anyone. He leapt across the treetops so fast that he seemed to be only a strong gust of wind. It wouldn't take him long to reach Rin. He began to wonder what he was going to say to his former charge. Should he ask her to return with him? That, he decided, was going to depend on what had caused her disappearance in the first place.   
  
The running had calmed him, he was cool and collected once again. When he caught sight of Rin, all his memories, all the rage and fear, the sense of loss and of inadequacy came rushing back. Why had he not been able to find her? Why had he not a clue as to what had occurred that fateful day five years ago? As all these old questions were silently asked of him again he kept his eyes on his target, Rin was drawing nearer with each passing moment.  
  
She was not the same child he remembered. Rin was fully a woman now, and he sensed power and purpose in her. Her aura was purer, if that was possible. She was so beautiful. He wondered if a human could really be so beautiful. He was only a hundred yards from her, and he slowed. She turned in his direction, gasping as she caught sight of him. His heart almost stopped as their eyes met. It was his Rin, at last.  
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru was there, right in front of her. Rin fought the urge to step back as he gently landed on the grass in the clearing in front of her. His face was as impassive as it had been in her dream. She frantically searched her thoughts for the right words while trying to keep the fear from showing in her eyes.  
  
"My lord." She managed, bowing low on her knees with her forehead on the ground. Rin imagined his anger at her insolence getting the better of him, slicing her into many pieces and she cringed. When he made no move and no sound, she imagined his heart warmed to her. Perhaps he knew why she had gone to the temple of innocence, and had come to escort his new healer safely home.  
  
"Where have you been these five years?" he asked the question as if it were about the weather and not her disobedience.  
  
"The temple of innocence" Rin replied, her demonic tongue was as fluid as ever. She was amazed at how calming it was to speak again in the demon language.  
  
"How did you get there?" Sesshomaru kept his eyes locked on Rin. She wondered if their reunion could be stirring him as it was her. His eyes seemed sadder than she remembered. She took courage from them and confessed her misdeed.  
  
"I snuck away to study the healing arts there. I wanted to help you my lord, with your arm." She prostrated herself again, not wanting to see the rage she expected.  
  
"Wayward girl, come home and serve your master again. You know that is how it should be." Sesshomaru's words were amazingly gentle. Rin had never dared to disobey her master, and so she had never endured a scolding from him. This was not how she had imagined it though. Her heart soared as she realized that she was being welcomed home, back into Sesshomaru's service. She rose and smiled at him, trying to leave most of her emotion hidden.  
  
"Yes my lord." Rin answered humbly. She followed Sesshomaru as he walked into the forest.  
  
****  
  
Taromaru stood behind and to the right of Master-Mushin as the visitors arrived. His head still pounded from the sake and he squinted in the bright mountain afternoon. A band of men and women approached on foot. Taromaru strained to see them in the distance and smiled. He recognized them immediately. It was Inu-Yasha and the others that had saved him and his childhood friend, Suekichi, from the false water-god. That had been so long ago, but to Taromaru it was never to be forgotten. It was the monk Miroku who had inspired him to the religious life he now lived. It was also his father's disgrace that had inspired the choice of this monastery. He had never realized that Master-Mushin was the monk's foster father.  
  
The old monk bowed and greeted his adopted son and smiled, patting the taller of the two women on the stomach. Taromaru went into the temple to prepare the tea so they could discuss a plan for rescuing Rin from the clutches of Sesshomaru. Slowly the group filtered in, talking and laughing quietly. Taromaru brought the tea tray.  
  
"Master-Mushin, I thought you said that you had a young nun here as well?" Miroku shot Taromaru a quizzical look.  
  
"yes, well…"Mushin inhaled deeply and hiccupped.  
  
"Rin has left us." Taromaru handed Miroku a teacup. The younger woman shifted the small fox demon on her lap and asked;   
  
"Were you not treating her well? I mean, were you not treating her like a nun?" The three holy men winced visibly. Trying to act as if they did not know why she would ask such a question.  
  
"We were always good to Rin. We loved her." Mushin seemed sobered by the discussion. He sat a little straighter and sipped from his teacup.  
  
"Rin has gone back to the lord she served before coming to us. She intends to use her knowledge to heal an old wound of his."  
  
"No, it's different than that!" Taromauru interrupted. "Rin went to reconstruct Sesshomaru's arm that you cut off." He looked to Inu-Yasha, and then to the others. "If she does so, she will die. Even if she doesn't she is still in danger. He will kill her for leaving him to come here in the first place." His tone became desperate as he rushed on, "You have to help us save her and bring her back to the safety of the temple. Please!" his eyes rested on Inu-Yasha. The half-demon had saved him before, he hoped he could count on him again.  
  
"Sesshomaru." was all Inu-Yasha said. Miroku appeared to be deep in concentration. The woman beside him stared at the hand on her belly.  
  
"Let's do it, Inu-Yasha." The younger woman turned to the half-demon. "That poor sweet girl doesn't deserve to be killed trying to fix Sesshomaru's arm."  
  
"Besides that, he's a lot harder to fight with both his own arms. Let's go Miroku." Inu-Yasha stood up. Miroku nodded and turned to the older woman.   
  
"Sango, you are in no condition to fight. Stay here and keep an eye on the temple." She nodded and kissed his cheek. Silently the group exited, leaving her alone with the mostly untouched tea.  
  
-----------------------------------End Part Two-------------------------------- 


	3. Healing Hands Part 3

Healing Hands  
  
Inu-Yasha Fanfiction  
  
By: Kittyonnails  
  
Sesshomaru inhaled again. The scent of Rin was more intoxicating with each breath. He had to concentrate just to think, and he had a lot to consider. She had left him of her own free will. He was hurt that she could do that. She had learned the healing arts in order to mend his maimed left arm. He knew that even the best human could not survive such a feat. Still, a new arm would be a priceless gift. He did want a new arm. It just seemed he would prefer to have his little maid back. He glanced at her, Rin was trotting along beside him and smiling happily. Sesshomaru felt his heart sink. She wanted to die just for his arm? Her devotion was certainly justified, but it was not what he wanted. The pain of losing her has surprised him the first time. He was not about to go through all that again.  
  
"Rin." he stopped walking and turned to face her. She smiled slightly and looked over her shoulder at him.  
  
"Yes, my lord?" she said, turning to face him.  
  
"You will not heal my arm. It is not what I wish. Simply return with me."  
  
"Yes, my lord." her smile had vanished. She bowed low and slowly began to walk again. Sesshomaru sighed inwardly. This walk was taking too long. He wanted to get her to the safety of his mansion as soon as possible.   
  
Sesshomaru took a quick step behind the little maid and scooped her into his arms. His heart pounded as he heard her gasp in surprise. He kept his gaze straight ahead to the west. Without needing to explain, he leapt to the treetops and began to run home.  
  
****  
  
Inu-Yasha stopped and took a long sniff. He growled and turned to the rest of the group.  
  
"I'd know that smell anywhere. Sesshomaru was here." Everyone scanned the clearing. There was no sign of Rin, not even some small pieces.  
  
"so this is as far as the nun made it alone." Miroku wondered out loud; "but why have they left.?"  
  
"He probably took her back to his mansion, to claim the gift she offered." Mushin examined the sky above the clearing where they were standing.  
  
"That sounds like Sesshomaru." Inu-Yasha inhaled again, and pointed to the west. "He'd never miss the opportunity to exploit her just because he was pissed. He took her that way."  
  
Taromaru followed a little behind the group. So she really did meet up with that demon. Rin really was his maid. He hadn't wanted to believe she would really go on her own two feet to such a certain death. Mostly though, he was worried that Rin would hate him for rescuing her. After all, Rin had said that she would not mind anything he might do to her, so long as he was doing it. She only loved him because he had saved her life as a child.   
  
Taromaru smiled as an idea flashed across his mind. He remembered that Rin loved Sesshomaru for saving her life. If he could save her when Sesshomaru is about to kill her, then he would be the hero. Taromaru's heart swelled as he imagined himself slaying Sesshomaru and ebracing rin as he had only a night before. She would love him then. He picked up his pace as thoughts of slaying the great demon lord danced in his imagination. Rin would love him. This, he thought to himself, could end up making things even better than they were before.  
  
****  
  
Rin sat in her chambers hugging herself tightly. It was all she could do to keep the tears back. Sh was so stupid! What, she asked herself, had made her think that a mere human girl could heal Sesshomaru's arm? He was so sure of her incompetence that he wouldn't even allow her to try. She bit her lip as she remembered how he had explained it to her. A tear escaped from her left eye. She choked on a sob and as she gasped her breath back in, the tears broke loose. She had tried so hard to keep herself stoic! Alas, she was only a human girl, alone in her room bawling.  
  
The door slid open slowly. She knew instantly that it was Sesshomaru. As he stepped inside, Rin tried desparately to dry her tears and choke back her sobs. He starred down at her for a minute, then used his foot to push a cushion to a space in front of her. He set himself down and continued to stare.  
  
"What has upset you Rin?" He asked, once she had quieted herself. She turned her puffy eyes up to his impassive face. How she wanted to melt into his arms and cry out all her sorrows just has she had with Taromaru on the cliff.  
  
"Oh master Sesshomaru!" she sighed, gaining composure from his placid features; "I worked so hard to learn healing so that I could help you, but now I know all I have done is to be insolent and leave you alone for five long years."  
  
He shifted, resting his hand on his chin.  
  
"Rin, you could heal me, but, I won't allow it." he shifted again, resting his hand on his knee.  
  
"But why my lord? Would it not benefit you to have your arm again?" Rin braced herself for the answer she expected. She was a mere human, unworthy to perform healing on the great demon lord of the western lands.   
  
Sesshomaru absently reached up and touched the stub of upper arm he had remaining.  
  
"No, Rin I would appriciate a new limb more than you could know. I am simply not wanting to sacrifice your life If you heal me, especially so large a magic as creating a new arm, you will not survive." She looked up at her lord, confused. She could create a new limb easily. Rin wondered if Sesshomaru realized what a powerful healer she had become.  
  
As if in response to her thoughts, he reached up to his kimono and loosened it, exposing his upper chest an left shoulder. He scratched two deep lines almost six centimeters long diagonally down his breast.  
  
"Heal this wound, and you will understand." His eyes burned with the drama of self mutilation. Rin was reluctant to look away from their beauty, but she wanted to prove her power to her lord. She closed her eyes an concentrated on the deepest parts of the cuts, coaxing the flesh back together. As she worked her way out, she began to understand. His demon flesh was fighting her, resisting the healing. Most of all it was resisting her numbing of the wound. She refused to let him feel the pain of her healing. Rin knew the pain of being healed was intense. It was all the pain that a person would usually experience as a wound healed, compressed into a few minutes. Rin always numbed her subjects. Usually it was no big deal. Numbing Sesshomaru was proving to be the hardest part of the healing.   
  
She had reached the skin, not wanting to leave any scars or marks, she reached up and ran her fingers along the skin to smooth away any scars. It was so draining. She could feel how his body drank in all the energy she would give. He was difficult to heal because his body was trying to take more than it needed. His tissues would rather drink her energies than be healed. Sesshomaru was right, surely healing his arm would be the end of her.  
  
Finished with the healing, Rin opened her eyes. As she did, Sesshomaru reached up and pressed her hand to the place she had just healed. She could feel his heart beating, and she could feel her own heart pounding in her head. She was so tired from healing him. Rin looked up into his golden eyes. They were somehow softer she thought as she tried to keep herself upright. She fell towards him as she lost consciousness.  
  
****  
  
Swiftly, Sesshomaru moved to catch the little human. He was sorry to let go of her hand though. Her touch had been so warm and devastatingly gentle. He breathed deeply, inhaling her aroma. He had to admit that she had formidable skills in the healing arts. He hadn't felt a thing, only warmth, as she healed the tears in his flesh.   
  
Sesshomaru cradled her limp body in his good arm, wishing that he had another arm to wrap around her. As he laid her down on the futon, he starred at the girl slowly breathing beneath him. His body reminded him that she was no longer a girl. Rin was a beautiful woman whose touch and scent both comforted and excited him. There was a time when he was sure that she adored him. Now he felt like he was keeping a wild thing captive. He wondered if it was cruel to do so.  
  
Sesshomaru had never imagined that Rin could develop skills like the ones she'd acquired at that temple. More importantly he'd never dreamt that she would have the desire to go there on her own. Rin seemed full of such insubordination and, he had to admit, courage. Sesshomaru had to admit, it all appealed to him. He deliberately took his hand away from her and stood up. He knew he found Rin entirely too tempting. To keep his composure, Sesshomaru left her to recover alone.  
  
****  
  
Rin awoke alone, but with a strange sense of peace. Healing Sesshomaru had been wonderful. It had taken a lot out of her and surely he was right. Giving her lord a new arm would kill her. Still, a new arm for her lord was certainly more valuable than her mortal life. She stretched out on the futon. It was decided. She would disobey him once again. She was sorry her last act in life would be to disobey her lord directly. It would be alright though. He would he healed, an she would be with him always in that way.  
  
Unfortunately, Rin had just spent a lot of energy healing Sesshomaru's wounds. It would be a few days before she would be able to perform the service. In the meantime Rin meant to enjoy her life and recoup her energies. There was a garden in the central courtyard that Rin remembered. She headed outside to tend it.  
  
  
  
As Rin slowly dragged the bamboo rake in a gentle curve, she felt her strength returning. It seeped into her thickly from the sun and the green things. It channeled up the bamboo in her hands like water running backwards. Gardening was so healing for her. Even before she became a servant of Buddha, Rin had loved to tend this garden. She looked up to find her lord smiling ever so slightly and watching her from the veranda.  
  
"So you really have become a nun." He commented on the way she had designed the gravel. It had been carefully combed into a pattern commonly used in Buddhist monasteries like the temple of innocence.  
  
"Yes my lord." Rin stopped raking and smiled up at him. "Do you approve?"  
  
"Have you recovered?" He ignored her question.  
  
"Yes, my lord. I only passed out because I was already tired from our travels. You could let me show you my real power another time, when I am refreshed."  
  
Sesshomaru's smile faded. He looked to the southeast. Rin could tell something outside the manor had caught his attentions. He exhaled slowly and looked down at her.  
  
"They are coming for you Rin. My half-brother and his woman. Some monks are with them as well." He turned to face her once more. "I do not wish you to be a nun, or a healer. Only Rin, my maidservant as you once were. When you've completely recovered, I shall she what I can do about undoing your promise. For now, rest." He turned and left her alone in the courtyard.  
  
Rin sat on the porch and leaned her chin on the rake. Everyone was coming for her? Her lord's half-brother and his woman, what did they have to do with her? Certainly the monks were Master-Mushin and Taromaru, coming to stop her from doing as she planned. How was he planning to undo her promise? She was a nun now, and like it or not, Master-Mushin had told her that there was only one way to break away from that promise. For her to break her bond to the Buddha, Rin would have to consumate her love for another man. Did her lord really plan to do that to her? She sighed. She loved him dearly, but that was almost certainly not what Sesshomaru had meant. He probably knew of many other ways to remove her from her bond, other than making her his own.  
  
  
  
Sesshomaru sat in his study, browsing one of the many scrolls shelved there. Rin thought of him as she prepared the poultice she would use on his arm to numb the pain of regeneration. It had been four days and her energies had totally recovered. She felt wonderful as she hummed and ground herbs she had gathered the day before.   
  
In a vial beside her she had a potion made especially for her lord. Sesshomaru would not sense the potion until it reached his systems, slowing him so that he would be unable to stop her. She smiled as she spooned her herbal concoction into doughy balls she had prepared. She pinched them closed. Just like pork and mushroom buns! Sesshomaru would never know the difference.  
  
She poured the vial's contents into the waiting teapot and added the tea. Even with the drugs and herbs, she knew the healing would hurt him. She was sorry she couldn't help him with it. If she tried to kill the pain while healing him, she'd never be able to finish the complex work of creating his hand before she breathed her last. Rin said a prayer over the snacks and carried the tray up to her lord.  
  
Sesshomaru nodded to Rin as she brought him the tray. She watched him as he drank deeply from the tea she had poured. He looked at her, confusion in his eyes as he felt the potion take effect. He tried to rise and fell to the floor. Rin rushed to his side.  
  
"Master Sesshomaru, please forgive me!" She begged as she pulled his kimono down off of his shoulders. He mumbled noises, but lacked the motor skills for speech. Even his tounge was affected by the potion. Rin wasted no time, knowing the effects would be short lived. She opened one fo the buns and smeared the contents onto the stump of his arm. He gasped at the pain as she began to rebuild the arm.  
  
"Why?" He managed to ask, although it was barely intelligible.  
  
"Because I love you my lord." She said softly. "I cannot keep this gift from you and I cannot love you in this life. This is all I can do for you." She moved closer and kissed his cheek gently. Rin only let herself linger a moment like that. She was satisfied. Only a short time before her death she had managed to confess her love to Sesshomaru. Now he knew and she did not have to hear his response. She moved closer to him, placing her hands on his arm and shoulder. Rin closed her eyes.   
  
"My lord, I am afraid this is going to hurt." She warned, concentrating her full powers into the rebuilding of his arm. Rin constructed again the bone and muscle, skin and veins that had once lived. As the structures of Sesshomaru's arm grew beneath her fingers, Rin knew the potion had been sweated out long ago. The pain of the regeneration was the only thing keeping him still. She was at the halfway point. His wrist was complete, only the complexities of his powerful but gentle demon hand remained.  
  
Rin pulled blood into the newly laid veins, lacing the bones with capillaries. She carefully built a pair of poison glands and twisted them into the net of blood vessels. Overlaying the bone with lean muscles, she tangled it over and under the veins. Rin felt her breaths shorten. As she layered and stretched the soft and strong skin across the palms, she strung delicate nerves through it. The blackness began to creep up around her.  
  
Not yet! She begged her body, not wanting to succumb to death until his hand was complete. She licked her fingertips and placed them, one by one, on his fingers. She stretched out his claws from the bone endings. Almost finished. She was fading fast. Rin reached up to his shoulder again and ran her fingers down the length of his new arm, stopping at the fingertips. This dragged and pulled his demon blood down into all the veins and capillaries. She was pleased to see the arm swell and gain color. His body was taking the limb easily, but it still had no life. Finally she opened her eyes and shot the last of her life into her creation. In the form of sparks, her final effort jumped into the new muscle and the arm was finished. Rin smiled as she fell into oblivion.  
  
****  
  
"Rin!" Sesshomaru roared as she fell back. He looked from his perfect new arm to the dead girl. This was not what he wanted. Seeing her lying there reminded him. He had saved her from death once before, with the Tensaiga.  
  
"Damn sword!" he growled, searching the weapons room frantically, but not finding the sword. He flew down the halls from room to room. He was unsure how long she could be dead before he would be unable to revive her. For now at least he had only rage to deal with. The grief of losing her again was not something he wanted again.  
  
He found Tensaiga in a closet near the bath. He didn't bother to wonder how it got there. As Sesshomaru's head cleared with relief, he sensed intruders. His half brother and his companions! He rushed to Rin, howling to them to leave at once. He stood over the girl, ready to unsheathe Tensaiga as a young monk entered.  
  
"Rin!" He screamed, looking from the dead girl to Sesshomaru, he hollered again; "Over here! He's killed her!"   
  
As Taromaru jumped at Sesshomaru, the others arrived. He could sense they all thought he had killed Rin. As he opened his mouth to explain, the monk landed a hit on his jaw. He turned to toss the boy away and instead had to dodge a swift strike from his brother' Tetsusagia. His recent ordeal had slowed him, and he wasn't sure how much time he had for this before Rin was dead forever!  
  
--------------------------------End Part Three------------------------------------- 


	4. Healing Hands Part 4

Healing Hands  
  
Inu Yasha Fanfiction   
  
By: Kittyonnails  
  
Sesshomaru turned to face the intruders. His brother was standing at ready, backed by his woman and two other monks. Again, Inu Yasha lashed out with the Tetsusaiga. Sesshomaru narrowly dodged, not willing to move so far that the blade could harm Rin's body. She would be harder to revive if she was wounded as well.   
  
"I have to admit Sesshomaru, I thought that you liked her." Inu Yasha swung again, this time hitting his brother in the shoulder. Sesshomaru managed to slide away from the fang's cut, and so he was not sliced in two. The wound was not small though. The blood began to drip just as Taromaru leapt at the demon lord.  
  
"You'll die for what you've done!" he screamed as he stabbed Sesshomaru in the stomach with a small knife he had pulled from his robes. As the demon lord grunted with effort, he slashed the young monk across the chest with his talons. Taromaru screamed as the poison ate away at his flesh. He landed in a small heap against the wall. Couragously he crawled over to Rin's side.   
  
"Get away from her!" Sesshomaru ducked another swipe of the Tetsusagia as he clawed Taromaru again.   
  
"Stop it" Kagome screamed, shooting an arrow into Sesshomaru's back. He fell forward onto Rin's body. Mushin ran over to Taromaru, trying to save the boy from the poison Sesshomaru's claws had haphazardly distributed.  
  
As Sesshomaru felt his brother raise his sword readying for another blow he thought to himself how he and Rin would be together in death this way, as they should have been together in life. He swore at himself for not making sure that had happened. Rin had deserved a happy life. Sesshomaru didn't mind dying if he couldn't give her that.  
  
"Wait." Miroku thrust his staff in the path of Inu Yasha's blade. "Something isn't right."  
  
"Now that you mention it," Kagome let down her battle stance and looked over at Inu Yasha, "have you ever beaten your brother this easily before?"  
  
"That, and look at the girl." Miroku pointed to where Sesshomaru lay panting, embracing the body of the dead nun. "There's not a scratch on her. She's dead alright, but all that blood is from Sesshomaru."  
  
"Hey, yea, what gives?" Inu Yasha tossed the Tetsusaiga over his shoulder and kicked his brother on the shoulder.   
  
Sesshomaru looked up and growled, "Idiots." He reached for his sword.  
  
"That's the Tensaiga!" Kagome gasped. "He was going to revive her, not kill her!"  
  
Sesshomaru grunted and kneeled over Rin, concentrating on his task. He couldn't see the oni who were going to carry her spirit to the land of the dead. He inhaled sharply, feeling how deeply he had been cut. He closed his eyes and focused again. He couldn't find Rin's spirit anywhere in the room. His breathing became shaky.   
  
"No." He mumbled softly, through clenched teeth. Rin was gone. Dead, and her spirit no longer lingered. She had been taken to the other realm where spirits live.  
  
"Rin!" He roared his anguish for all to hear. He caught himself and took a deep breath, looking down at her pale face. He hung his head to hide his face behind the curtain of his icy white mane. Sesshomaru did not want to keep his face calm. He wanted Rin to see how much he needed her back, how much her return had meant to him. He needed to show her, even in death, how much he had never been able to admit to her or even to himself. At the same time, he was aware that he was not alone in the room. With his hair as a screen shielding him from their prying eyes, he hugged her lifeless body to his and let go his stoic mask.  
  
Everyone stared as Sesshomaru grieved. It was clear that they had all made a horrible mistake.  
  
"Come." Miroku beckoned to his friends in a quiet tome, "Let us leave him."  
  
As everyone filed out of the room, Inu Yasha turned to his brother.  
  
"Sesshomaru… I'm so sorry." He said quietly before leaving. If Sesshomaru heard him, he made no indication.  
  
****  
  
  
  
"Gosh how awful." Kagome poured tea into small cups the group had found in the kitchen of the mansion. Everyone looked down sadly at the table.  
  
"Why are we even here?" Inu Yasha shot an irritated glance at Taromaru, who seemed to shrink under the half-demon's glare.  
  
"Rin told me she thought he would kill her." He began quietly, but as he gained confidence in his defense he got louder, "And she was right! She is dead isn't she? We didn't kill her and he was the only one there. Even if he didn't cut her or anything he still killed her."  
  
"She wasn't murdered." Miroku looked up from his tea. "She would have known immediately what the limitations of her abilities were. She knew that she was not strong enough to perform such a task without putting the very spark of her life into it."  
  
Mushin grunted in agreement. "She chose to die that way."  
  
Kagome sighed, "And he was going to use Tensaiga to bring her back to life, But we got in the way and the oni took her soul to the land of the dead while we fought. That's why Sesshomaru couldn't revive her."  
  
"This is all your fault, boy." Inu Yasha got up from the table and stormed out of the room.  
  
"It was just a tragic misunderstanding." Miroku tried to reassure the boy.  
  
"No." Taromaru said darkly, "Rin always told me to act like a real monk, and a real monk would not have imagined a future with Rin. I should not have loved her as I did. I've got to go!" He knocked over his teacup in his haste to leave. They all listened to his hurried footsteps as he ran from the mansion.  
  
"Where will he go?" Kagome asked as she cleaned up the spilt tea.  
  
"He will probably go back to the temple. There he can purify his defiled self." Mushin answered.  
  
****   
  
Inu Yasha found Sesshomaru stumbling down the hall carrying Rin's body. He was having some troubles because of his injuries.  
  
"Let me help" Inu Yasha didn't wait for a response to his offer, he just lifted the girl's body delicately out of his brother's arms and nodded for Sesshomaru to lead the way. The demon lord was too exhausted to argue. He led Inu Yasha into the finest chamber in the mansion. He laid out a futon and Inu Yasha spread Rin's lifeless body across it.  
  
"The monks." Sesshomaru said, not taking his eyes off of Rin, who was getting very pale. "have them keep her body fresh."  
  
"What? That won't bring her back. She's gone." Inu Yasha's tone softened with a sudden sympathy. "I'm sorry."  
  
"No brother, she's not so far gone that she's out of my reach." Sesshomaru swept some of Rin's hair away from her face.  
  
"I will go to the land of the dead and reclaim her soul." He reached up to his right shoulder and held the wound with his new hand. "I need those monks to protect her body from decay so that her soul will return to it. You must watch over the western lands. Even now I am too injured to do that properly."  
  
Inu Yasha stared at his brother with astonishment. He had never heard anything like this from Sesshomaru. He had no reply all he could manage to say was, "Let me get Kagome to dress your wounds." As he got up and left the room.  
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru looked around himself, feeling as close a thing to peace as he had felt since Rin's death. He was at the great shrine of Jizo Bosatsu. He was finally healed enough to begin his quest. This was probably his only hope for finding the Land of the Dead as an immortal. He kneeled at the statue and added a stone to the little stacks that surrounded it. He folded his hands and prayed, "O great Bodhisattva, merciful rescuer of souls, hear my plea."   
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder and was startled because he hadn't sensed anyone in the room. He turned and saw a monk in orange robes with a glowing bald head, a long staff with six rings hanging from it and a ruby imbedded in his forehead. The monk smiled.   
  
"Lord Sesshomaru, tell me your tale."  
  
Sesshomaru turned to face the god and bowed low, with his forehead touching the floor.  
  
"I have a desperate need of your service. I need to know how to find the land of the dead."  
  
"And why is that?" The god regarded Sesshomaru with a coy smile, folding his arms into the billowing sleeves of his robes.  
  
"I have to go and retrieve my housemaid. She has died and I continue to require her service." Sesshomaru was trying to hide his love for Rin, he didn't want the great god to know about what was considered an abomination by all the demon upper classes.   
  
"Why do you so desperately need the services of a human housemaid?"  
  
"She… I… How did you know she was human."  
  
"Was she human?" Jizo Bosatsu looked down at the kneeling demon.  
  
"She was human, and a mortal, and she was more than just a housemaid." Sesshomaru hung his head in shame, "She was a very special woman. I cared for her and she for me. I have not behaved as a demon of my stature should have."  
  
"What do you mean, Lord Sesshomaru? Did you touch the girl?"  
  
"No, she was a nun."  
  
"Yes, and you kept your dignity and her purity despite your desire. Because of that, I shall help you in two ways. First, this is for your woman." He produced a peach and held it out to Sesshomaru.  
  
"Second, you should go east, to the place where the moon rises from. That is where the gateway into the land of the dead is. I warn you that it is an appalling place full of suffering. The best you can hope for your little maid is a place of melancholy sadness. Most likely though, you will find her in Sai no Kawara, the dry bed of the river of souls. The oni will take her there because she was so young and still pure. Go to her, your sword will help your quest. Tell her what is in your heart." he shook his staff over Sesshomaru's head, jingling the six rings. Sesshomaru felt his heart and mind open to the sound. He knew his own heart as if it were absolute truth. He knew nothing would stop him from storming the gates of hell and saving Rin from torment in purgatory. He loved her, and he would always protect her.  
  
Jizo Bosatsu was gone. All that remained was the peach in Sesshomaru's hand. He looked down at it and smiled sadly. It was the hand that Rin had given her life creating for him. The god was known for imparting wisdom and knowledge of self with his staff. That was probably why he felt his emotions loosed. He should have known better than to lie to a god. Sesshomaru shook his head as if to scold himself for such foolishness, and then got to his feet. It was time to begin. He would head east, and refine his direction as he watched the moon rise that evening.  
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru contemplated the peach Jizo Bosatsu had given him. It seemed like any ordinary peach, but he knew that couldn't be right. What was Rin supposed to do with the peach? He tossed it into the air and caught it. He guessed that she would know, since it was meant for her.  
  
Sesshomaru had reached the gates to the Land of the Dead a few hours before. Now he sat in a tree near the clearing in front of the gateway. He was unsure what he would find in such a place. As an demon he had never thought of death as it was experienced by humans. Demons had no soul, and so their energies simply dissipate when they are killed. As a human, Rin had an immortal soul that would spend time here in the land of the dead before being reincarnated in some other form. Sesshomaru had never thought about it, but in a sense it seemed that Rin could outlive him. He smiled at the thought. She wasn't really dead, she was simply separated from her body. Rather than wait for her to be born into a new one, he would put her back in her original body.  
  
Sesshomau rose, and tucked the peach safely into his sleeve. The huge oni who guarded the gates were his first challenge. The oni stood ten feet high and wore nothing but loincloths of tiger skin. Each was armed with a seven foot iron club and sharp claws. Their skin was bright red and their short-cropped hair and beady eyes were jet black. Two pointy yellow horns stabbed out of each oni's forehead. Sesshomaru drew Tokijin and leapt at the larger of the two. The oni tried to parry the strike with his club, but the magical blade sliced through. As Sesshomaru cut into the oni's flesh, the other took a swing at him. His assault was clumsy and he missed by several feet. While he tried to retrieve his club from the place it had been imbedded in the earth, Sesshomaru took off the creature's head in one clean motion. The gateway was cleared.  
  
From outside, the land of the dead seemed nothing more than a huge cave, full of inky blackness. Once Sesshomaru stepped inside, he could feel the heat and hear the suffering. The blackness was not so thick as it had seemed from outside. He headed down the steep and winding pathway, wondering what he would find at it's end.  
  
The light in the cavern was a sickly dull greenish blue that seemed to come from no particular place. Sesshomaru turned quickly when he felt something grab onto his shoulder. A man with deep sunk eyes floated behind him. He was glowing with the greenish blue color. His form was well defined around the face and shoulders, but further down it blurred until he had no legs at all. He didn't say a word, he only looked at the demon lord with a desperate sadness.  
  
"What do you want?" Sesshomaru could not help being disturbed by the blatant misery on the man's face. The spirit moaned and reached for Sesshomaru's sleeve, the place where he had tucked Rin's peach.  
  
"Stop it." Sesshomaru pushed away the bony hand and backed into something. It was another spirit. It too reached for his sleeve. More and more of them were coming. Sesshomaru knew he could not let them have the peach, so he ran further down the corridor, pushing past thicker crowds of the hovering, moaning souls.   
  
He eventually came to a crossroads. There were three branches. Straight ahead the pathway became a cliff, reaching out over the great river of souls. To the left the corridor continued down, glowing orange and radiating heat. To the right the path climbed gradually and he could not see where it led. The souls he had pushed past surrounded him once more, pulling and pushing at his body, begging him for the peach. They were all so skinny, he guessed that they were starving. Still, he could not let them have Rin's peach. Sesshomaru drew his Tokijin and swung. The spirits were untouched.   
  
Sesshomaru backed down the narrowing pathway over the river of souls. He could hear the clacking of stones as the oni below toppled the children's little towers. He sheathed Tokijin and tried to push back the spirits with his claws. They were moved aside, but not injured by his strikes. Every soul he pushed away seemed to be replaced by two more. Their long bony fingers reached into every fold of his kimono, trying to retrieve the fruit he carried. He kept his hand tucked into his sleeve and wrapped around his treasure. Sesshomaru was used to fighting one handed, but he was not used to fighting spirits.   
  
He felt the Tokijin being pulled from it's sheath. Before he could reach for it, it was in the hands of a particularly large spirit. The man seemed to gain power from the blade. Instinctively, Sesshomaru drew the only weapon that remained, Tensaiga. He parried a strike from his sword and pushed it back into the vaporous ghost. When the Tensaiga's blade hit the spirit, a flash of fire shot up, and it was no more. All the souls that had crowded him, slid back. Sesshomaru smiled menacingly and lashed out, slashing hundreds of them into little piles of brimstone ash. He was alone on the peninsula. The only glow came from the fast flowing river of souls below. The wandering sprits had fled.  
  
Sesshomaru slid the Tokijin back into it's sheath. Which way would take him to the dry bed of the river of souls? He looked to the corridor that radiated heat. That was surely the fires of hell. The other path seemed less meanacing but also seemed unreachable. For some reason, Sesshomaru could not make out the details of where the path led to, or what exactly it looked like. He heard the shrieks of children from below the river. Sesshomaru realized why he couldn't see up the path. It was the road to heaven. Such a place was unreachable to a demon like himself. As a demon he would never attain a higher existence than the one he had. He was now in purgatory, the closest to heaven he would ever get. The thought didn't bother him though. Rin was in purgatory. This was the place he needed to be. The sounds of Sai no Kawara resonated up from the river of souls.   
  
Stretching the Tensaiga out in front of him, Sesshomaru dove into the river of souls. The smell of sulfur stung his sensitive nose as he plunged deeper and deeper, leaving a flaming gash in the flow of the river.   
  
Sesshomaru abruptly fell out of the sky and into a desert. He landed on his feet, and kept the Tensaiga drawn. All around him little children and young women diligently piled smooth river rocks on top of each other. With each rock, they said prayers. This was Sai no Kawara. He scanned the desert plain for Rin. The riverbed seemed to stretch on forever.   
  
A flash of light caught his attention. A small girl clapped her hands and jumped up and down. She seemed so full of joy. An angel lifted the girl and flew off on fiery wings. The entire riverbed reverberated as all the waiting souls chanted.  
  
"Praise to Buddha."  
  
Sesshomaru chose a direction and began walking down the riverbed, searching for Rin. None of the spirits here seemed to notice him. They were all preoccupied with their stones and prayers. At last he caught sight of a young woman with her back to him. It was Rin.   
  
She was kneeling in the dust, praying with her hands folded and her eyes closed. Like all the spirits of Sai no Kawara, she was fully formed, but nude. Sesshomaru sheathed the Tensaiga.   
  
"Rin, come" Sesshomaru placed his hand on her sholder.  
  
Rin whirled around and stared at Sesshomaru. As she did, a bright light flashed and her pile of stones became an angel. Both Sesshomaru and Rin turned to the angel.   
  
"Come to the arms of Buddha." the angel reached out and with a gesture of it's hands both Sesshomaru and Rin floated off of the ground. A flap of the angel's fiery wings and they were racing across the sandy plain towards a blue horizon.   
  
A green oasis in the desert appeared on the horizon and quickly grew as they approached it. It was a tropical jungle, and in the center sat a great bronze statue of the Almighty Buddha himself. The angel hovered over the statue for a moment, then motioned and slid both Sesshomaru and Rin onto the stone slab in front of the statue. A light enveloped Rin's body and she was dressed in her nun's robes. Rin bowed low, placing her forehead on the stone in front of her. Sesshomaru followed suit, unsure what else to do.  
  
"My child." A voice boomed. Sesshomaru knew instantly that it was the Almighty Buddha himself.  
  
"You are given a choice." Sesshomaru felt the peach in his sleeve evaporate and he rose, grasping at the place in his sleeve where it had been. His body was lifted into the air, and he found himself held hovering alongside the peach Jizo Bosatsu had given him.  
  
"This is a fruit of immortality. It is offered to you by your lord and lover from your recent life on earth. He would like you to live on with him. There is a cost to such a thing. I cannot let you go without telling you what you stand to lose because you are a woman pledged to my services as well."   
  
Rin lifted her head and sat up, gazing into the face of the great Buddha. It continued to speak.  
  
"You may go with him, and live on as an immortal just as any demon of the earth. In doing so you will forfeit your immortal soul. If you do, you will never again know my love. As an immortal of the earth you cannot attain nirvana, or spend time in the heavens. The only life you will ever know is the one you live on earth. When you are killed, you will simply dissipate."  
  
Sesshomaru looked down at Rin. She clung to every word, contemplating her choice. He felt his heart drop. He knew he could not offer her the peace and tranquility that the Almighty Buddha could. All his efforts had been in vain. The thunderous voice of the Buddha continued.  
  
"It is your choice my child. Do you choose your demon lord or your heavenly lord?" 


	5. Healing Hands Part 5

Healing Hands  
  
Inu Yasha Fanfiction  
  
By Kittyonnails  
  
Inu Yasha looked up as the door to his office slid open. Kagome carried in a small tea tray with some sweets. He smiled at the sight of her. She was just as lovely as the day they had met. Even, if it were possible, lovelier. The swell of her belly where their child was growing did not detract from her beauty, it enhanced it.  
  
"Hello love, what is this?" He pointed at the tray.  
  
"I thought you might want some snacks. I know how hard it is to study all the time." She smiled.  
  
"Yes, there certainly is a lot to know. I had no idea this job was such a chore." Inu Yasha pushed the papers aside and picked up the cup of tea she poured. Life here had become so comfortable.  
  
"I guess it's yours now though." Kagome looked absently around the office that had once belonged to Sesshomaru.  
  
"I don't know. Miroku still thinks he will return one day."  
  
"After leaving us here for two years? Inu Yasha, there hasn't been any wrd or anything. I know your brother is a powerful demon, but he may be no match for the land of the dead." She paused to take a drink from her own teacup. "Besides, life here is so nice and peaceful. It's your birthright anyway. We shouldn't spend so much effort waiting for him to come back. If his post was so important, don't you think he would have stayed, or at least returned by now?"  
  
Inu Yasha sipped his tea silently. He had thought about all these things, but he still could not imagine his brother dead. Something about the way he had handled the dead girl had told him that he was not going to stop until he found a way to come back with her. Miroku had told him that a person could be lost forever in the caverns of the land of the dead. He also knew that it would be difficult for a full demon like Sesshomaru to find the land of the dead. It was not a place that a soulless thing like his brother would have been welcomed. There were so many possibilities. All he could do was properly care for the Western Lands until his brother's return.  
  
"No Kagome, we must wait. Give him more time." She sighed, and nodded.  
  
"Yes, I suppose so. Just promise me that if he doesn't return, our children will have his post to inherit."  
  
Inu Yasha nodded. Their children, he thought to himself. Kagome was pregnant with their first. It was not going to be long now before the child was born. Sango was here now, and she would be able to help. Miroku had also stayed, helping Inu Yasha honor what seemed to have been his brother's dying wishes. Rin's body was kept fresh as the day she had expired, waiting for Sesshomaru to bring her life back to it. He looked back at the scrolls he had set aside. He had more work to do before dinner.  
  
Kagome just didn't understand all of this sometimes. When Sesshomaru had first left them here, she had wanted to leave it all behind and go home. Inu-Yasha had insisted that the only option was to do as his brother had asked. Miroku had backed him up and brought Sango to the complex. Their son had been born shortly after and this mansion was the only home little Masahiro had ever known.  
  
Kagome brought her hand down to her own swollen stomach where her own child awaited birth. Before all of this she and Inu Yasha had lived a happy life in the village near the well. They had traveled between times and she had never gone more than a few weeks without seeing her mother. It had been just over two years since Miroku had suggested they all go to visit Mushin at the temple of innocence. In all that time, she had only gone to visit her mother once. Inu-Yasha had insisted on staying behind. He said that his duty was to the western lands, and he could not disappear like that, even for a few hours.  
  
Kagome sighed, being pregnant made her so emotional sometimes. It was just like she was a teenager again. Her mother would be ecstatic if she knew Kagome was pregnant. She was twenty-seven now, and she and Inu-Yasha were so excited that they might finally have a child. They had been trying to have children for years now. Once, four years ago, Kagome had been pregnant. The baby had been stillborn. That had been a hard time for them both. Somehow they had managed to get through it, but it had scarred them both deeply. Now Kagome was seven months pregnant and she knew that she would not be allowed to go home until the baby was born. Because of what had happened to their last child, Kagome wanted to have the baby at a hospital in her own time. Inu-Yasha was sure that it was the time travel that had killed their first son. He also seemed to think that it was because they were here in his father's lands that she had conceived after so many years. Kagome was not so sure, but she was not willing to risk either her child's life or hurting her husband with that kind of disobedience.   
  
Everything here in the western lands was so peaceful. Sesshomaru had kept things well ordered, and Inu-Yasha worked hard to do the same. He did not have his brother's ability to make major decisions quickly, but he was just as creative and capable of thinking on his feet. He had done a good job of keeping the western lands just as his brother and father before him had. Kagome was proud of her husband for all he had done and how hard he had worked to do it. Learning to be the Lord of the Western lands had not been an easy thing for a Inu-Yasha. He had been used to a much freer lifestyle. They both had. Now Kagome had to stay at the mansion and Inu-Yasha studied long hours whenever he was not on patrol. Every six months he had to patrol the borders of the western lands. It took a month to travel their length, give or take a week depending on what troubles he found. Kagome always missed him so much by the end of that time that she was almost crazy.   
  
Except for the few times Inu-Yasha had to patrol, Kagome had come to enjoy life here at the mansion. She and Inu-Yasha lived in one wing and Miroku and Sango had the other. Having them around kept the loneliness out of the place. Kagome could only imagine how it had been for the human women here before her, Inu-Yasha's mother and Rin, how lonely they must have felt. For Kagome though, this place had become home. She was planning to raise her child here, and hopefully Inu-Yasha would stop waiting for his brother's return and claim the title that he had been working under soon. That was what they had been arguing over recently. If Sesshomaru was not returning, then it would be only right that Inu-Yasha receive the credit for all the work he had done as the lord of the western lands.   
  
For the past two years Inu-Yasha had worked under the title of an assistant, to Kagome it seemed he was pretending that his brother was still alive. All in all it was hard for her to imagine that he missed his brother, since they had always hated each other. Something had changed that day when Rin died. The anger between then seemed to have vanished. Inu-Yasha had forgiven his brother everything on that day, Kagome wished that she could do the same.   
  
****  
  
In front of Rin lay a peach and a pair of cherries. A gift from each of the men she had sworn allegiance to in her most recent life. She looked up at the golden features of the Buddha. Her debt to Lord Sesshomaru had been repaid. She had only meant to give him her life, not her soul. Now here he was asking her to forsake her chances to attain eternal peace. Could he even know what he was asking? Could she give up her god and her futures?   
  
Rin looked at Sesshomaru hovering about twenty feet away. His expression was like nothing she had ever seen. He seemed sad, blatantly sad, but at the same time he looked at her with such love. She felt a shiver through her, and she knew. There was nirvana in his eyes. She didn't have to look any further.   
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru watched Rin delicately lift the peach to her lips and bite into it. She seemed to be enjoying the fruit, until she swallowed the last bite. As she wiped the juice from her chin she suddenly burst into flames.   
  
"Your decision has been made." The Buddha's voice boomed. She was gone, leaving nothing but the peach pit. Sesshomaru was able to move again, he ran to the place where she had been, calling her name. He picked up the pit and turned to the statue.  
  
"What have you done with her?" There was no answer.  
  
****  
  
Miroku walked into the room were Rin's body was kept, prepared to perform yet another decay cleansing spell. Every day he spelled the girl's body like that to keep her ready and waiting for the return of her life. He was taken aback to find her sitting up rather than laying on the futon as Sesshomaru had left her over two years ago. She turned a teary face to him.  
  
"Where is my lord?"  
  
Miroku looked around the room searching for any sign that the demon had returned as well.  
  
"Isn't he with you?" he asked.  
  
"I've been sent back without him!" She sobbed into her hands. Miroku knelt at her side and put his arms around her shoulders to try and comfort her. Immediately he sensed something was not right with her.  
  
"Rin, what has happened these past years?"   
  
"Years?" She wondered aloud, "Oh, I suppose time has passed much faster here. For me it was only a few weeks. I was in Sai no Kawara when my lord came to my side. Then Buddha called on us. Told me I was to choose between my immortal soul and my lord." She broke into tears again.  
  
"You chose Sesshomaru over your own soul?" Miroku asked in astonishment. It was all making sense though, what he has sensed was that this girl had no soul. She was effectively no longer human. He could feel her flesh strengthening itself, steeling up for the long and un-aging life she was going to lead.  
  
Rin's tears had subsided. She was staring intently at her own hands. She seemed to be feeling the changes as well. She looked up at Miroku and took a deep breath, letting it out in a shaky sigh.   
  
"He's going to be punished isn't he?" She asked the question she was afraid she already knew the answer to.  
  
"Most likely." Miroku answered solemnly.  
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru found himself in an endless desert as the oasis where he and Rin had encountered the Buddha dissolved around him. From the sand, the image of the Buddha rose up and again he heard it's voice.  
  
"Sesshomaru, I do not have many dealings with your kind. Mostly they are smart enough to stay away from my and my dealings. I do not appreciate having souls stolen from my folds. You will regret this."  
  
Everything went black.  
  
Sesshomaru awoke surrounded by cold. It was such a deep intense feeling, it was impossible for him to feel anything else. He opened his eyes and found himself in a world of swirling white and biting winds. He was somewhere in the middle of a blizzard. He strained to stand and felt a familiar stabbing pain in his right shoulder. His wounds from the battle with Inu-Yasha had been returned. He felt the hot blood ooze down his chest in little trickles that pricked his skin. He knew he didn't have much longer to live if he didn't get warmed up.  
  
A soft sound caught Sesshomaru's attention. It was a woman's voice, soft and silvery, calling his name. Her voice was like a song he couldn't get out of his mind the minute he heard it. All he could do was to follow the sound. He hadn't far to go.   
  
The form of a lone woman standing in the snow wearing a white kimono with long white hair blowing wildly about her in the storm surfaced. She stared at him with icy blue eyes.  
  
"How do you know my name?" He commanded, knowing he didn't look that threatening, even to a lone woman. He was more than half frozen and badly wounded. Covered in his own blood, he was probably grotesque, but not dangerous.  
  
"Come with me." Was all she said. Sesshomaru knew his only other option was to stay here and freeze. She led him to a cave. He warmed immediately upon entry. The shelter from the wind was like paradise. Only the cold remained to deal with. His head was throbbing as she led him down a corridor lined with walls of ice.   
  
Sesshomaru noticed that the ice along the walls held the frozen bodies of many humans. He knew what it was he was following. A snow-woman. She turned and smiled.   
  
"Yes, I am Yuki-Onna. Do not worry, I only prey upon human men. You are a demon who is trespassing on my territory though. What do you propose I do with you?"  
  
Sesshomaru said nothing. He only managed to grunt as he collapsed onto the floor.  
  
  
  
He awoke warm. The snow-woman sat on the floor, polishing the stone to a mirror shine. She turned to him and smiled.  
  
"You know, you really have a beautiful body. Were you a human, I would put you on display in my chambers. What a lovely addition to my collection you would make." She sighed, admiring the frozen corpses trapped in blocks of ice lining the walls of her cave.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" Sesshomaru asked, sitting up and gesturing to the bandages on his shoulder.  
  
"Because I was bored." She got up from her place and sashayed over to the futon where he was sitting. She smiled at him seductively. "And because I understand."  
  
"What do you understand?"  
  
"I heard you talking in your sleep demon. You call and call for her, but she is lost to you. The life has left her. It is that pain that I understand."  
  
Sesshomaru's face flushed uncontrollably. Talking in his sleep? How could he possibly? He opened his mouth to deny it, but the words would not form. All that he could do was say "I love her." As soon as the words were out he tried again to deny it. Again he could only confirm his love. He became so frustrated that he stopped speaking all together. The snow-woman laughed a shrill laugh.  
  
"You are under a spell demon. But why? Why would you be spelled to be able to only tell the truth of your heart?"  
  
Sesshomaru growled. He was beginning to understand what had happened.  
  
"I paid a visit to Jizo Bosatsu. He must have done this."  
  
Yuki-Onna laughed even harder. "Yes, I suppose that staff of his could do it. The staff brings self awareness. You've got quite a task ahead of you trying to control yourself so that you don't walk around proclaiming your love for her to everyone you speak to."  
  
Sesshomaru nodded, that would indeed not be good. If his enemies found out how he cared for Rin, she would become a target. With her immortal soul lost to her, she would be dead eternally if he didn't save her promptly. That had already happened once. After all this, losing Rin would be too much to bear.   
  
"I have to get to her." He told the snow-woman.  
  
"You have to heal. Wait out the winter here with me. Even I cannot leave this mountaintop at this time of year. Not even if you were healed would you make it."  
  
"No, I have to go to her now!" Sesshomaru growled the last part.  
  
"Better to get to her alive than to die and have her find you in my walls. I warn you demon; I would not kill you, but I would not hesitate to add your dead body to my collection." Her blue eyes turned gray as she spoke. Sesshomaru leaned back on the futon. He was going to be in her company for a while. It was best not to argue anymore.  
  
------------------------------------End Part Five-------------------------------- 


	6. Healing Hands Part 6

Healing Hands  
  
Inu Yasha Fanfiction  
  
By Kittyonnails  
  
Kagome shuffled down the covered walkway that surrounded the garden in the center of the estate. Rin was sitting on the large rock in the middle of the garden. It had to be difficult for her, Kagome acknowledged. Rin had been a nun and a healer. She must have been a very spiritual person. Now, Rin had lost her soul, and for what? So that she could be with Sesshomaru, who had never returned. The whole thing was so tragic. Kagome tried to be sweet to her, but it was not easy.  
  
Rin had been back at the mansion for more than a month now, and she was nothing like the child that Kagome remembered. She was quiet and composed. Except for the first day, when she had cried over waking alone, Rin had shown no emotion. The girl had withdrawn. It was February, and Rin had been back among the living for two months. She didn't seem to like it.  
  
Rin sat on the large rock with her legs crossed. Her hair blew about her closed eyes and pale face wildly. She wore only a threadbare pink cotton kimono. The wind was sharp enough to chill Kagome through her yukata and kimono, so Rin must have been freezing. Kagome could only guess what inspired her to sit like that for hours at a time in the dead of winter.  
  
Not wanting to disturb her, Kagome slipped into the warmth of the kitchen. She poured water from the barrel into a kettle and set it over the fire. It was time to make tea. She reached into a cupboard and pulled out a few jars. Kagome frowned, they were all out of bean paste. She would have to get into the cellar and get cucumbers to make today's snacks.   
  
As Kagome slid out onto the walkway again, she was Rin sitting like a statue on the rock. It made Inu-Yasha so angry when she sat on the rock, and Rin did it most every day. That meant her husband had been in a bad mood for almost two months straight. The situation was wearing thin on everyone. Inu-Yasha wanted to send Rin away, but even he did not know where she would go. So Rin stayed, waiting and perhaps praying to the gods she had forsaken. Kagome understood that Rin's return unaccompanied was probably a sign that Sesshomaru was not coming back. If he had forsaken the girl, he would have been home long ago to reclaim his territory. If he had rescued her, as Rin claimed, he would have returned. Unless he was unable. Perhaps Rin's vigils on top of the rock were some kind of mourning. Inu-Yasha's anger was his way of mourning his brother. Kagome understood it well enough, but that didn't make it easy.  
  
Kagome held her belly with one hand, and heaved open the door to the cellar with the other. It swung open with an eerie creek. The cellar was just a hut made of thick beams suspended over a deep room dug into the earth. It was pitch black down there. Only a few rays of sunlight reached through the open doorway, not nearly enough to light her way. Kagome lit a small lamp that was kept on a ledge just inside the door. She decended into the frozen blackness. Her wooden shoes clopped loudly as she moved herself down the rough wooden steps. It was difficult to manage, her weight was unbalanced due to her pregnancy.  
  
The cucumbers were kept in several baskets shelved along the southern wall. Kagome lifted a basket onto the bulge of her stomach and held it there with one hand, she carried the lamp in her other hand and clopped her way up the stairs. At the top, she set the lamp on it's ledge, but missed. As she dove to catch the lamp, she lost her balance and fell backwards.  
  
It was twelve steps from the top of the cellar to the earthen floor. Kagome fell from the top in a shower of frozen cucumbers and screamed. When she hit the floor she was relieved that the fall was finally over. It had happened so fast, the pain hadn't reached her yet when she tried to sit up. In the blackness, a pain shot through her. One pain she knew immediately, her baby!  
  
A figure appeared at the top of the stairs.  
  
"Lady Kagome!" Rin shouted, then leapt down the stairs. She knelt on the dirt floor where Kagome lay sobbing.  
  
"My baby, Oh, Rin! Get Inu-Yasha!"  
  
Rin could feel the injuries Kagome and her child had sustained. She ignored what Kagome had asked and pulled open her kimono, exposing Kagome's bulging stomach. Rin placed her hand on the belly and inhaled sharply in surprise. Her senses seemed to have sharpened. When she focused, she could feel every cell in the infant's body. She saw right away that the child wanted to be born, but also that it was injured from it's mother's fall. Rin placed her other hand on Kagome's belly for a better view.  
  
"Something's wrong." She told Kagome, who had quieted.  
  
"What is it?" Kagome looked up into Rin's face, but the girl's eyes were closed. Just then, Inu-Yasha thundered down the stairs calling Kagome's name.  
  
"The baby," Rin told them both, "Is injured from Kagome's fall."  
  
A small groan-like howl escaped Inu-Yasha. He fell into a sitting position beside Kagome.  
  
"Can you help them?" He asked feebly, afraid to request a favor from someone he had threatened harm to on more than one occasion.  
  
"Yes, I think so." Rin leaned into Kagome's stomach. She felt her flinch as the pain of labor began to shake her. Rin could tell clearly which tissues needed repair. She had never done this kind of healing, she feared that if she waited for the child to be born it would die.   
  
Rin felt her healing energies form into thin strings that wove between the obstacles of the mother's body, focusing on the life inside her. The threads seemed to reach, and Rin used the materials inside Kagome's womb to repair the bruises and fractures. It all went amazingly well. The child healed much quicker than Rin had expected. She opened her eyes and withdrew her energies from the baby.  
  
As Kagome's pain struck her, Rin screamed. She leapt up and stood several feet away from the pair on the floor, wondering why she had felt it so sharply.  
  
"What's wrong? Is the baby alright?" Inu-Yasha asked nervously. He squeezed Kagome's hand and turned again to Rin, his eyes seemed to be begging her to say that everything was fine.  
  
"Y-yes. The child will live." Rin managed to pull herself back to Kagome's side. The mother was still injured and about to give birth. For reasons unknown, Rin felt her energies steady. It was as if she had a much larger reserve to draw from. She approached Kagome again. Even a few feet away, Rin could tell where each bruise was located. The mother to be had twisted her ankle and slipped a disk in her spine. She could also tell that Inu-Yasha had almost bitten completely through his lip in nervousness.  
  
Rin stroked her hand over the bruises on Kagome's hip. She pushed the blood back into it's veins and sealed the breakages. She sat Kagome at an incline and ran her forefinger up her spine, sliding the disk back into place and aligning the nerves.   
  
"Your ankle will have to wait Lady Kagome, we must birth your child." Rin lay Kagome down on the earthen floor. The child was very near birth. Inu-Yasha seemed to sense it too, he moved to kneel between Kagome's knees.  
  
"How are you doing, love?" He rubbed Kagome's exposed stomach tenderly. She managed a smile that looked amazingly happy for all the pain Rin knew she was experiencing.  
  
"We're finally going to have a baby." She said breathlessly.  
  
****  
  
  
  
The snow woman was talking to him again. Sesshomaru didn't listen to her anymore, it only infuriated him to hear how the stupid creature mocked him constantly. She had no respect for a demon of his caliber and it would cost her. It was the end of February, and the snows had stopped a week ago. Things were getting to the point where he could have mad it off of the mountain, if he weren't so starved. Sesshomaru was not one for regular meals, but two months without food was a bit much for a demon who was recovering from injuries like his. Yuki-Onna knew this, and that is why she regarded him so flippantly. What she did not realize was that he was a carnivorous demon, and she was just the sustenance Sesshomaru needed to survive the trek off of the mountain.  
  
Sesshomaru rose from the bedding where he had lain most of the winter season. He walked to the mouth of the cave and stared out at the frozen wasteland that stretched as far as even his demon eyes could see. He was far from Rin. He could smell that much. How far exactly was difficult to say, but he was definitely north and east of her. That probably meant she was at the estate.   
  
"Thinking about her again?" Yuki-Onna crept up beside him and hugged his left arm to her. She was constanty draping herself about Sesshomaru. He despised her for it, but not wanting to kill his departing meal prematurely he tolerated it. Knowing that he would soon leave with her in his belly soothed his irritated nerves. He said nothing, knowing that the spell upon him would not permit him to say anything less damaging than yes. She followed his gaze.  
  
"Southwest? Is that where you're from? Do you think she's waiting for you?" Again he didn't answer. She was used to it by now, and he thought she understood that the curse kept his mouth silent. Not that it mattered. A snow woman was a telepathic kind of creature. That is how they learned a victim's name and lured them into their lair. Sesshomaru smiled. Even as a telepath, there was no way for Yuki-Onna to know his intentions. The only things these pathetic creatures could clearly discern with their abilities were names and genders. That is what had saved him. Without the snow woman, Sesshomaru would have frozen to death on the mountain long ago. She only called to him because her abilities were so pathetic. If her telepathy had told her more than his name and gender, she would have left him to die. She had brought him into her lair before realizing that he was a demon. Now she kept him around in the hope that she would provide her a child.   
  
As soon as he had recovered from the worst of his wounds, she had begun propositioning him. He had made it clear that there would be no such actions on his part. The snow woman was determined, and kept up these little annoyances. Now it was the end of February, and the time for his departure drew near. He smiled, and turned to her.  
  
"Yuki-Onna, I want to thank you for your hospitality. It is almost time for my departure. You must accept a gift of gratitude. Name it and anything in my power is yours." Sesshomaru knew what she wanted, and he knew that if she thought she was about to get it she would be less likely to pick up on his intentions with her telepathy.  
  
"I want your child, for companionship and protection. A child born of our union will be a fearsome creature. Give me a child." He nodded silently and led her into the main chamber, where his bedding and hers lay near the fire. Yuki-Onna smiled seductively and slipped her snowy kimono off of her shoulders, revealing skin almost as pale.   
  
"I'll try to make this a pleasurable encounter for you. If you like, you may return again." She smiled seductively and untied her obi, letting the pale purple band fall to the icy stone floor. Sesshomaru stretched his neck from one side and then the other as her kimono fell open, revealing her cottony pubic hair. He smiled and shifted into his true form. Yuki-Onna was snapped in half with the first bite. He didn't even chew her, just swallowed her whole. The second bite was easier to enjoy, since her legs weren't going to fight back. He lingered in the snow woman's cave for a few moments longer, lapping up the spilt blood.  
  
Traveling in his true form was swiftest, so Sesshomaru continued in that guise until he reached the human city of Kamegaoka. Fom there he continued in human form, leaping swiftly across the treetops. It was only a weeks travel from Kamegaoka to his estate, and he could smell that Rin was alive and well, working her healing magic there.  
  
****  
  
Kagome smiled a truly happy smile. Seeing Inu-Yasha holding their tiny daughter was surely the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. He looked so gentle and peaceful cradling the infant in his powerful arms, she wondered how anyone would ever fear him again. The child in his arms began to stir and he handed his daughter to her mother.  
  
"Ah, Mari-chan, hungry again?" Kagome cooed. The door to their chamber slid open and Rin bowed. She slid a tray laden with food and tea into the room.  
  
"Time for lunch. How is everyone?" She smiled and shuffled over to Kagome's side.   
  
"We're doing fine. Thanks to you Rin." Inu-Yasha smiled and picked up a pickle off of the tray. Rin smiled at him and then turned back to little Mariko, making faces at the newborn's big brown eyes while she nursed.  
  
The peaceful scene was shattered when Inu-Yasha leapt to his feet, spilling the teacup at his feet. He sniffed the air and turned his ears to the north. Rin gasped and tried to clean up the spilt tea.  
  
"What is it?" Kagome held her baby close anxiously.  
  
"It smells like…" Inu-Yasha's voice trailed off as if he were unsure of his own senses.  
  
"Sesshomaru." Rin whispered, staring in the same direction as Inu-Yasha. "It is Sesshomaru. He is finally coming home." Tears of joy crept slowly down Rin's face. Kagome looked down at her newborn daughter.   
  
"Sesshomaru?" She asked, "This is his home. Where are we going to go now?" Inu-Yasha turned to face his wife and daughter, but he did not yet have an answer to Kagome's question. Sesshomaru was coming fast, and it would only be about an hour before he reached them.  
  
------------------------------------------End Part Six------------------------------------------------- 


	7. Healing Hands Part 7

Healing Hands  
  
Inu Yasha Fanfiction  
  
By Kittyonnails  
  
"Sesshomaru" The toad-demon growled the name as much as his slimy vocal chords would allow. "That ungrateful demon will soon understand his father's mistake." He turned to face his ally, a human monk with two scars down his right cheek. The monk nodded.  
  
"We should mobilize if he is finally returning. No reason to give them time to get comfy." He turned abruptly and left the toad-demon alone. Jakken slunk off into the edges of the forest that surrounded them.  
  
****  
  
It was like a hot bath after a long battle. Sesshomaru stood on the large rock in the center of his garden. From all around him he heard calls and shuffling feet. No doubt his brother and the rest of the household had known of his coming. He inhaled, smelling that Rin was there. If the mansion and all his territories had been taken over by human bandits that would be fine, so long as Rin were there.  
  
First on the scene was Inu-Yasha. Of course, Sesshomaru reminded himself, Inu-Yasha was the fastest. Only moments behind him, Rin peeked out of the open shoji behind Inu-Yasha.  
  
"Welcome home, brother." Inu-Yasha bowed to him. Sesshomaru only managed a half-hearted return, before he leapt to the walkway. He stood only inches from Rin. He could reach out and touch her easily, but he found himself suddenly unsure.  
  
"Rin." He stared down into her brown eyes. She trembled for a second, then averted her eyes and bowed low.  
  
"Master Sesshomaru, welcome home."  
  
Sesshomaru's heart fell. He had journeyed and battled for this woman, and she had done the same for him. Yet she still expected that she was his servant? Even his half-brother, who stood silently nearby, seemed surprised by her formality.  
  
"Rin, stand up." He watched her rise, seeing the hope in her eyes gave him the courage to continue. Spending over a month with Yuki-Onna gave him enough control not to confess love to her, but he desperately wanted to. In front of Inu-Yasha, such things could not occur.   
  
"Do not bow to me as a servant. You are no longer a mere human woman, if you choose to be, you are the lady of this house. Because of your choice, you are an immortal creature worthy of such a position. Do you accept?" Sesshomaru had never anticipated an answer so fearfully. Even when they faced the Almighty Buddha himself, the worst Rin could do was choose the path she was born to. Now though, if she chose anything but what he offered her, if was him and him alone that was being rejected.  
  
"Lady of the Western Lands?" Rin looked up into Sesshomaru's stoic face with a sweet smile. "I accept, my lord." Together they walked into the warmth of the mansion's inner chambers.  
  
****  
  
"And so my former master has cast me aside to take a human woman as his lady. It is an insult to all demo nesses! It is an insult to the upper classes of demons, who know not to dally with humans. Like we did his father before him, I say we rise up and wipe this blemish from the history of demon kind!" Jakken waved the staff of heads about dramatically as cries of agreement rose around him. He was doing his part, getting the masses of demons riled up against Sesshomaru's intentions towards Rin. He had never expected that his master had such as soft spot for humans. He had always thought that weakness to have been a fault that died with Lord Sesshomaru's father. Unfortunately for Jakken, it had not been so. That soft spot for human women had also appeared in Sesshomaru. Now Jakken was doing just as he had those many years ago, after Inu-Yasha's birth. He was rallying the demons of the western lands to punish their lord for his failings. It was just luck that Jakken had run into the young monk, Taromaru. Taromaru had told him the story of Rin's death by healing, and Sesshomaru's quest to bring her back from the land of the dead. The monk's acute senses had been enough to alert them to Sesshomaru's return a two years later. Now they were finally on the verge of an all-out war. Taromaru and the humans would attack from one side, and Jakken would lead the demons in an attack from the other. Sesshomaru was just one demon, the last of his line. Even one so powerful as he could not defeat the hoards brought on him by Jakken and Taromaru. No one would allow Inu-Yasha to contunue, being a half-breed, and Sesshomaru had no heir. This time, their line would be extinguished.   
  
"A demon who dally's with human women, is no demon at all." Jakken shouted to the enthusiastic crowd. They would attack at daybreak, just as planned.  
  
****  
  
"What's wrong Kagome?" Inu-Yasha nudged her dish of oyako-don towards her. "You seem really out of it."  
  
Kagome shuffled Mariko in her arms and turned to Inu-Yasha. She sighed and looked down at the dish, watching it grow cold.   
  
"It's just that I've got this bad feeling." She stirred the rice at the bottom of the bowl, and lifted a bit of chicken to her mouth.  
  
"Nothing bad is going to happen Kagome. I'm sad that we're going to have to leave here too, but that doesn't mean we are in danger. Even if we were, I'd protect you, and you know Miroku and I can do a lot of damage. Even more now, with Sesshomaru on our side."  
  
She set her chopsticks across her bowl and looked down into her baby's sleeping face.   
  
"It's not us that's in danger, It's Sesshomaru. I just have this feeling like, everyone hates him for something. I think the something bad is intended for him." She tried another bite of her oyako-don, watching Inu-Yasha's face as she chewed. He seemed to finally be taking her seriously. His expression had darkened and he was staring into nothing, lost in thought.  
  
There was a soft knock at the door and it slid open to reveal Rin's smiling face. She slipped into the room and lifted Mariko from her mother's arms, cooing at the infant.   
  
"Inu-Yasha, would you like to introduce Lord Sesshomaru to his newborn niece?" She rocked the baby gently and waited for a response.  
  
"Yes, I need to talk to my brother." He replied, sending a concerned look to Kagome. She nodded, knowing he meant to discuss her premonitions with Sesshomaru. Rin smiled and bowed to Kagome as she followed Inu-Yasha out into the hallway.  
  
They found Sesshomaru in his study, reading over the daily logs Inu-Yasha had taken over the past two years. He stood up and greeted them. Rin offered him the child.  
  
"This is my firstborn, a daughter. We have named her Mariko." Sesshomaru did not take the child from Rin, but he did look at her with interest. This was the first child born of his line since Inu-Yasha. The little baby had the very beginnings of white hair on her head, and two little dog-ears just like her father. Her big brown eyes looked up at him with interest and awe.   
  
"Surely she will bring you honor, brother." He turned away from the infant and seated himself at his desk, scanning the papers in front of him. Rin bowed and slipped out the door, returning the child to it's mother. Inu-Yasha's eyes followed his daughter as far as they could. Sesshomaru too, seemed to hold his breath until the women were out of sight.  
  
"You handled yourself quite well in my absence." He commented, not looking up from the documents. Inu-Yasha felt his face flush with pride. Sesshomaru never had a kind word for anyone, especially not his half-breed brother. He bowed and seated himself in front of the desk where he had labored the past two years. He had come to truly love living in his brother's house and would be sad to see it all go, even if it had only been two years. Inu-Yasha shook the nostalgia from his mind, more pressing matters were at hand.  
  
"Kagome has sensed a danger intended for you, I think it would be wise to investigate. Her premonitions are almost always correct." Sesshomaru looked up and studied his brother. He too had sensed this threat, but it was so widespread and strong that Inu-Yasha's priestess-wife, a mere human, had become aware of it? He was unsure.   
  
"Where did she sense this danger from?" He asked, feigning nonchalance.  
  
"Well, she didn't say. I guess her feeling wasn't that specific. Still, I think we should look into it." Inu-Yasha was embarrassed that he couldn't answer his brother's question, but he was sure Kagome's premonition was correct, and he had to make Sesshomaru take it seriously.  
  
"It seems to come from all sides, that is why she can't pinpoint it." Sesshomaru looked his brother straight in the eye, "I've been reviewing all of your notes, and I can't find a clue as to what might be going on. Do you have any ideas as to where we might find this insurrection or what has caused it?" Inu-Yasha hung his head. He did not know. As far as he had known, the lands had been moderately peaceful, and no ill will was harbored that was unusually strong or menacing.  
  
"Where is Jakken?" Sesshomaru already knew the toad-demon was missing, and he had his suspicions. Jakken had lead the attack on their father and Inu-Yasha's mother. That was what had initially convinced Sesshomaru to take Jakken into his service. Now there was no sign of the devious little creature.  
  
"Jakken? He left right after you did. I thought you had taken him with you." Sesshomaru shifted his left arm and rested his chin on the back of his hand.  
  
"Inu-Yasha, Jakken is the demon who rallied for the attack on our father and your mother. Never has their lived a bigger opponent of human-demon tryst and romance. If he left my service as I traveled for Rin, that can only mean he is behind this new threat. We must find that toad-demon."  
  
"Jakken? But he is weak. He is a coward. How could such an insignificant little thing do so much damage? To destroy our father, my mother, and even you? It can't be true!"   
  
"Do not doubt me little brother. He is indeed a coward, but a coward can sometimes be more dangerous than a brave demon. Jakken enlists the idiot creatures and prideful demons to fight in his stead. Masses so great that even your Tetsusaiga could not fell them. Do you remember the battle that killed our father?" Inu-Yasha shook his head.  
  
"I was very young then. All I remember was being sealed up and sent away from my mother."  
  
"I was young also, but not too young to fight. In the heat of the battle, Jakken made his way to me and used my youth and ignorance to win my trust. He played on my feelings of injustice and jealousy about my father's new wife and his abandonment of my mother, a great demoness. I was young then, but I'm sure he knows I no longer have those weaknesses. His crusade, it appears, has not changed. He is still looking to destroy all demons who pair with humans." Sesshomaru smirked suddenly. "I suppose that you have managed to register insignificant by virtue of your half-breed status. Most likely much more fuss would be raised if you were paired with a demoness." Inu-Yasha slammed a fist down on the tatami floor.  
  
"That slime, he must be stopped. Human-demon separation is stupid, and what business of his is it who loves whom?!" Inu-Yasha embellished his words with a frustrated wave of his claws. Sesshomaru, stoic as ever, nodded and looked down at the papers that lay across his desk. Shuffling through them, he began to put them away.  
  
"Keep your temper, little brother. We can easily defeat Jakken, if we get to him first. We will leave tonight." He began rolling the scrolls up, one at a time. Inu-Yasha thanked his brother and left to tell Kagome what had been decided.  
  
****  
  
"Honorable Monk, are you sure we will find a demon in that lair?" One of the many townsfolk Taromaru had gathered looked skeptically from him to the distant mansion. They had traveled all night up the mountain to get to this large grassy plain. Here lay the estate of the Great Demon of the Western Lands, Lord Sesshomaru.  
  
"You fool, it was in that very mansion where the fiend gave me these!" Taromaru pointed to the ugly scars across his cheek. The horde marched through the tall grass in relative silence. Until they reached a large granite outcropping.  
  
"This is where we will await dawn's first light." Taromaru informed the men. "Set up the wards!" one of the others called out the order that would keep them safe while they waited. Special spirit wards like the ones that had protected the Temple of Innocence were brought out and placed strategically around the camp to hide their location from the great demon and his household. The humans built their camp fires and bedded down for the night, anticipating the battle that would come in the morning.   
  
Taromaru slipped out of the camp and shuffled through the tall grass, making a wide circle around the mansion to avoid detection. Finally, he reached the high grounds on the northern side of the mansion. He carefully approached the demon camp and asked to speak with Jakken.   
  
****  
  
Sesshomaru and Inu-Yasha stood together at the gates of the estate, surveying the surrounding plane. The air smelled strange, and it made them equally nervous.  
  
"I can't tell if anyone's near, but something's not right." Inu-Yasha turned to the north. Sesshomaru nodded and transformed into his true form, the fearsome white dog. He nodded to his brother and they set off to the north to investigate.  
  
They did not have to travel far. Only a mile from the estate they found an army of demons, the first wave of Jakken's attack plan. They were mostly forest demons, Tengu and Kappa. Things easily decimated by the brothers. Sesshomaru sniffed the air once more, and led the way northward, then to the east. As they traveled, they continued to encounter small armies traveling towards the estate, ready to make war.  
  
The demon armies were not much to deal with individually, but both Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru knew what numbers like these could have done had they all attacked at once. Inu-Yasha had never seen his brother fight so well. Sesshomaru had fought many battles, and decimated many demons in front of his younger brother, but he had always appeared to be doing it out of boredom. This battle, he seemed inspired. That passion translated into his killing bite as he swooped down on drove after drove of insubordinate demon filth.  
  
"This is the fifth group, and still no sign of your former assistant!" Inu-Yasha stopped, reluctant to travel any further from the home they were defending. Sesshomaru turned to him, his white fur bloodied from battle, and poison dripping from his fangs onto the bodies beneath him, hissing as it hit in acidic green droplets. He shifted back to the form of a man.  
  
"The coward probably slipped out somewhere along the line. He would never stand up to us in a battle." Sesshomaru turned back to face the estate.  
  
"No!" His eyes grew red, and he began to shift form unconsciously.   
  
"Inu-Yasha, we must get back!" As soon as he had spoke, Sesshomaru began to run back the way they had come at an incredible pace. Inu-Yasha could not keep up. Soon, Sesshomaru's form was just a dot on the horizon. Still running full speed, the sensation hit Inu-Yasha when he was still several miles away, the mansion was under attack!  
  
****  
  
Miroku had been left to defend the estate while Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru investigated the unknown threat. It had seemed the lighter of the two tasks, until the sun rose. That is when the attack began. Neither Sesshomaru nor Inu-Yasha had said anything about a human army seeking to destroy the estate.   
  
It had been impossible to keep them at bay for long. Their numbers overwhelmed the four defenders quickly. Kagome was in no condition for fighting, but she sat in the study on the second floor and shot her arrows into the invaders with deadly accuracy. Miroku and Sango fought like a well-oiled machine, killing all comers, but there were just so many of them. Rin had been sent to the cellar with the children to keep them safe and hidden, since Rin had no fighting ability. Sango had been wounded, and the four hours of battle had run Kagome out of arrows.  
  
Alone in the house, Kagome made a run for the weapons room. She was sure Sesshomaru would have some arrows there. She hadn't missed one shot, but there was no way to kill all of the men who chopped and hacked at the walls surrounding the estate. She had almost made it to the armory when she heard a crashing sound. The wall near the garden had collapsed, they were in! Kagome's thoughts went to Mariko, her newborn child. Rin was huddled in the blackness of the cellar with the baby and two-year-old, Masahiro. She ran for the armory and shouldered the two quivers that were left, turning without pause for the garden.  
  
Rin lay the sleeping baby on the dirt floor. The sounds of men pounding on the door had scared little Masahiro and he was crying loudly. She gave him a quick hug and whispered in his ear,   
  
"You have to defend Mari-chan, and I have to defend you. Stay here in the dark with her and be very quiet. I will go and keep them away from you." She handed the little boy a slice of cucumber and wrapped another blanket around his shoulders. He quieted and sat on the ground next to the sleeping infant. Rin didn't know what she was going to do to defend the children without any weapons or skills, but she knew she had to do something, or else the attackers would be upon them.  
  
The door had been sealed by Miroku's spirit wards, thinking the threat would be from a demonic force. The wards were cumbersome for humans, but totally removable. The last one must have come off just as Rin reached the door. The daylight blinded Rin as the huge door swung open suddenly. She shrieked and threw up her arms in defense against the blinding. As she did, she felt the nerves at the tips of her fingers pop simultaneously. When she heard the cries of wounded men, she looked up and saw two men in front of her clutching their burnt-out eyes. Rin wondered if it had been just luck, or if she had actually managed to harm her attackers. As three more moved in to take the place of the two she had blinded, Rin knew there was only one way to find out. She concentrated on one of the men, and snapped her fingers, signaling his heart to stop. He clutched his breast and fell down. Rin smiled and shut down the respiratory system of the second man. He fell on his companion who turned a fearful face to her.  
  
"Please, No! Don't Kill me!" He cried. She pointed her index and middle fingers at him and he was blind. From the other side of the garden, she could see Kagome, shooting straight and thinning the numbers who made it through the gaping hole in the perimeter wall. She could sense Kagome's body tiring from the strain of battle, and paused to heal the lactic acid burns in her muscles.   
  
A great shout went through the crowd of plundering men as the sky darkened. Rin looked up and smiled. It was Sesshomaru, returning home at last. He decended on the chaos in his true demon form, a form so fearsome that many of the intruders ran at the mere sight of him. A few braver men remained, and soon they had been returned to the Buddha. Rin watched the battle from the doorway of the cellar, silently disabling any who came too near.   
  
It was almost over when Inu-Yasha arrived, but he did so with a flourish. He landed on the large rock in the center of the garden holding a quivering bundle of brown and green in his claws.  
  
"Sesshomaru, I have brought you a present!" He shouted. The elder demon shifted form and approached Inu-Yasha, his eyes still red from battle. Kagome ran from her position just inside the kitchen doorway to her husband's side.  
  
"Catch!" Inu-Yasha tossed the grotesque thing to Sesshomaru.  
  
"Jakken!" He growled as he caught it. It was indeed Jakken. He was beaten within an inch of his life, but not quite dead. Sesshomaru stretched his claws.  
  
"Thank-you brother, it will be a pleasure to kill this ingrate." he licked his lips sinisterly.  
  
"Stop right there!" Everyone turned to see where the strangely familiar voice had come from. A monk in black and green robes stood with a pressed to Rin's throat. Even with the two disfiguring scars running down his cheek, everyone knew it was Taromaru.  
  
"Kill him and she dies too!" Taromaru shouted.   
  
Sesshomaru turned a bored look to the monk. He stretched his claws again, letting some of their poison drip down onto Jakken's barely conscious body. The poison hissed as it burned his slimy flesh.  
  
"Go ahead and kill her. All I need to do is retrieve her again." He lolled in a calm monotone. Taromaru chuckled and pressed the blade more firmly against Rin's jugular.  
  
"You can't fool me, bastard. She's got no soul left. If she dies, she ain't goin' anywhere 'cept maybe hell." The knife sliced through Rin's skin, letting a trickle of blood run down her neck. "Now, drop him and I'll let her go."  
  
"No." Rin looked Sesshomaru straight in the eye. "Kill Jakken, if he is responsible for the destruction of our home." She was fearless.  
  
"Taromaru, I thought you loved Rin!" Kagome shouted, trying to distract him so that Rin could escape. He scowled at her.  
  
"I did love her, and she should have loved me in return. I can't love her now. I know what she is I am a monk, do you forget? . How could I love a soulless murderess who loves a monster like that!?" Rin smiled at all her friends, who stood motionless, unsure how to save her.  
  
"I am a murderess. I am soulless, and I do love him." As she spoke, she slowed his heart rate, ending his life on that last syllable. He fell to the ground at her feet.  
  
"Kill Jakken!" She shrieked, pointing to where the toad lay dangling from Sesshomaru's claws. Swiftly, he shredded the slimy lump. Rin smiled, and ran her index finger across the cut on her neck, healing it.  
  
"Rin, how did that happen?" Sesshomaru shook the blood from his claws an approached her in amazement.   
  
"I discovered that I can use my healing powers to kill too, now that I don't have to worry about tainting my soul and weakening my powers by doing so." She smiled cheerfully at the group as Sango and Miroku arrived.  
  
"Where's Masahiro?" Sango shrieked, seeing Rin alone.  
  
"They're both in the cellar still." Rin pointed to the door behind her. Sango and Kagome raced for the stairs, returning with their children in their arms.  
  
"You are hurt." Rin rubbed the wound on Sango's arm and mended it.  
  
"Yeah, I guess all that's left now is cleanup." Kagome looked around at the garden, which had been completely destroyed. The southern wall had been decimated, and chunks of it lay all over the yard and garden. Bodies covered the grounds, and the plants and gravel had been trampled together.   
  
"We would love for you to stay here with us to assist in reconstruction." Sesshomaru stepped towards Rin and set his had on her shoulder, "And once this estate is rebuilt, I shall enjoy having you as headman of the village where you previously resided, little brother." He turned to Miroku, "And you, monk, I would like to give you the lands west of that, where some of these fools were from. Both of you shall enjoy the privilege of leadership and I shall enjoy the security that you will provide. I know with allies like you two, this kind of attack shall never again happen."  
  
"Headman of the village of Kaedae?" Kagome beamed up at Inu-Yasha. "We would be near home!" Miroku smiled as well.  
  
"We would be honored to serve you in such a way." He bowed and they all began the work of reconstructing the great estate.  
  
---------------------------------End Part Seven--------------------------------------  
  
Just a note to all, this is only kinda the end. I do have another chapter in store, but it is not going to be the kind of thing that is essential to the plot. It will be the final chapter, a lemon where Rin and Sesshomaru finally get together! 


	8. Healing Hands Part 8

Healing Hands  
  
Inu-Yasha Fanfiction  
  
By Kittyonnails  
  
Sesshomaru held his breath as he slid the shoji open. Rin was kneeling in front of her little vanity, combing her lovely hair. This was it. Everyone had finally left, he and Rin were finally alone together. She turned and smiled at him. Surely she knew what he intended to do tonight.  
  
"Hello, Sesshomaru." She bowed slightly and turned back to her reflection, brushing her hair.   
  
"Good-evening, Rin." He returned her greeting automatically, the formalities did not ease his nervousness. After all they had been through, he was nervous. That had to be the most shameful thing yet. His love for Rin was no longer a problem, she was easily as powerful as he and thought not technically a demon; Rin was no human woman. He watched her smoothing the hairbrush through the mass of shiny black silk that was her hair. She was amazing. He was not only in love with her, he was in awe of her.   
  
Thinking of Rin's power and beauty stirred the lust in him and he drew in a sharp breath, trying to control himself. She surely knew when he became aroused, her healing abilities allowed her to know every detail of his body. He longed to know the details of hers.  
  
"Come in, I have been expecting you." Rin set the hairbrush down on the vanity and turned a seductive smile to Sesshomaru's blank face. He obeyed, shutting the shoji behind him.  
  
"Rin." He was beside her now, taking one of her small hands in both of his. How could he tell her all that he felt? How was he to let her know how he loved her and wanted to consummate that love. They had been through so much, this should be the easy part. How would he…  
  
Sesshomaru's thoughts were cut short when he noticed that Rin had closed her eyes. Her face was tilted up towards his and her lips were puckered ever so slightly. She was waiting for him. The fear and uncertainty melted away as he realized that she wanted this too. All the spoken words could wait. Tonight they would love each other physically.   
  
He leaned in and kissed her waiting lips, softly at first then deeper. As the kiss deepened, he pulled her to him with one arm, keeping hold of her hand with his other. Her scent was intoxicating, her touch even more exquisite. This little romance elated Sesshomaru so much that he wondered how they would ever move past it. Then he felt Rin's hand rest itself on the back of his neck. Shivers coursed down and up his spine, tingling his toes and the tips of his ears. He was fully aroused so suddenly that he released her hand and wrapped her in both arms, squeezing her warm body close to his own. He could smell her arousal as well, and that knowledge seemed to be chasing any remaining doubts about the night's itinerary out of his mind.  
  
Rin was dressed in a silk kimono and nothing more. She had been preparing to go to bed when Sesshomaru had appeared in her doorway. His presence always aroused her, but never like this. Through her thin robe she could feel every texture. It was like being pressed up against Sesshomaru while naked. When he had embraced her so tightly one of her legs had fallen free from under her skirt, and the opening exposed her from toe to thigh. She wondered if he had noticed as she wondered at the heat she could feel from him. Always warm, Sesshomaru was practically on fire, and she could feel the same heat growing in her body. Rin knew where this was leading and she loved it.   
  
All her fantasies about sex had involved Sesshomaru, and now here he was intently working his way up to taking her virginity. Her heart sighed as her body pulsed, wanting more, wanting him. Even as these fleeting thoughts manifested themselves, Sesshomaru broke the kiss and Rin opened her eyes. He stared into her eyes intently as he slid her kimono off of her left shoulder. He slipped his hand across the newly exposed skin; shoulder, collarbone, breast. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------She wrapped her arms around Sesshomaru, holding him on top of her tightly.  
  
"I love you." He said in a contented voice, returning her embrace.  
  
"I love you." She returned, snuggling into his shoulder.  
  
-----------------------------------The End--------------------------------------  
  
A/N: Well, I hope that wasn't too graphic for your tastes. Especially since I had to sensor it for posting on this site. I could have left it alone, but I wanted to at least let everone who read the story here know it existed. If you do want to read the real thing (it is NC-17, Just so you know) it's on Adultfanfiction.net. You could have been done without this chapter. On the other hand, these things do eventually happen when you fall in love for real. Hope you liked this story. Thanks and Bye-Bye! 


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